tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15709591612483741552024-02-19T18:18:52.729+13:00WaidaleRams-Ike WilliamsWaidale is a specialist Stud sheep which is now share farmed with James and Maria Hoban, at Glenafric Farm 1306 Mt Cass Road Waipara. They do al the day to day work, but I am still in control of mating, culling, breeding philosophy etc, We are still focused on breeding on top Romney, Southdown and South Suffolk rams!. Grunty meaty rams with fertility and wool in case of the romneys, dont take my word come and have a look for yourself. Our website is www.waidalerams.co.nzIke Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-78348910303799062862018-09-08T12:41:00.001+12:002018-09-08T12:41:23.460+12:00Beef and Lamb Levy increases, how they are used and what will they achieve?<br />
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I have been visiting ram clients recently and
had a fair number of discussions about these levies, the plight of our wool
industry, the threat of artificial meat and of course the weather!. On top of this I have taken the time to read
Beef and lamb’s (“BLNZ”) reports on alternative proteins, future of red meat
and environment strategy among others.
Well worth a read, but there is a lot to digest.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We have recently been advised that the increase
in levies <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“</span><span style="color: #4d4d4d; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">will be invested in accelerating four key programmes: the
international activation of the Taste Pure Nature origin brand and the Red Meat
Story, helping the sector lift its environmental performance and reputation,
telling the farmer story better, and strengthening B+LNZ’s capability to
address biosecurity risks.”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4d4d4d; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Two of these programs; those within in New Zealand’s
borders, I am sure they can affect change and indeed the environment strategy
report details how and what they want to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reason being these are
internal matters within New Zealand borders, a small market, known
participants, almost all are aware of what the issues are and the need to address
them, the questions are simply what needs to be done, how and when.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">However I somewhat skeptical regarding “the
international activation of the Taste Pure Nature origin brand and the Red Meat
Story” and I have read the levy proposal document and looked for much more
detail as to how they propose to utilise the proposed budget of $9
million.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>$9 million sounds like a lot
but in reality it’s a drop in the bucket and I just can’t see how BLNZ think it
will influence or change demand globally, without a lot of luck!!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would assert that you need hundreds of
millions a year over many years to successfully increase market awareness of
New Zealand Red Meat globally and accordingly anything less is just a waste of
their time and our money.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Note in “telling the Farmer Story better” which from
my reading of BLNZ literature is to do with surveying public perceptions and
tracking over time if there any improvements: again if this is within New
Zealand, I would expect this to be worthwhile, but if not then it is simply
wasting more of our levy money because if you are simply peeing in the sea, then
realistically there is no change to measure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Note I did qualify my view with the words <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“without a lot of luck”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>The reason being in my view the only way
to gain traction worldwide with a very limited budget is to use social
media.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If BLNZ create a modern up to date trendy page that regularly
post relevant articles, videos, events and information relating to the clean
green environment of New Zealand, how we farm, scientific benefits of eating
red meat, carbon foot prints, negative articles regarding synthetic meat (it
may not be the panacea as some champion it to be) etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have read a number of articles (independent
or biased I don’t know) suggesting synthetic meats may not be better for the
environment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Similarly there must be
issues about the chemicals required to culture meat from stem cells.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Some articles will be funny, some horrendous, some
only informational, but given millennials, from my reading of BLNZ’s
literature, are the big players in the future of our industry and as I
understand the big users of social media, this is the forum you focus on and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">with a lot of luck</b>, you just might get
some world penetration for $9 million.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
is a lot of information that could be posted on a Taste Pure Nature New Zealand
Facebook page.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would follow such a
page and share anything worth reading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">BLNZ needs to have someone dedicated to keep abreast
of all the topics, research etc. and posting them and hopefully some will go
viral.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They might even have to
commission research.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Perhaps this is already BLNZ’s strategy and I just
couldn’t find it, but after visiting BLNZ Facebook page where it primarily has
various recipes on how to cook various meat dishes, I doubt it; as I won’t be
rushing back to visit that page or become a follower of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I am not a millennial, but I am on Facebook and I went
to watch the Taste Pure Nature video and thought I would share it on Facebook,
but couldn’t (not easily) and it should be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Finally this brilliant Taste Pure Nature social media
page I am suggesting should also promote wool; wool is on the back of the lamb.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The virtues of wool being sustainable,
better for the environment then nylons, plastics etc. (a fairly easy argument
to win) ties in well with the theme of this page.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Clearly crossbred wool is in the doldrums at
the moment and as a broker recently told me we need the global view on wool to
change, not simply a few people or countries, so we need luck to make this
happen<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-23388165048534733262018-07-15T20:33:00.001+12:002018-07-15T20:33:54.961+12:00Exorbitant credit card charges bane of travellers and shoppers' lives even in Colombia<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white;">OPINION: I am in Colombia, a stunning South American country.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white;">Apart from a nice climate, great people and unbelievable fruit, being here again has really reminded me of how much modern technology is part of everyday life. </span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white;">It´s just so easy to keep in touch with family and friends in New Zealand. I'm probably more in contact with my 18-year-old daughter over here than when she was living with me.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white;">We are constantly reminded how technology can make our lives easier, quicker and more cost effective. The boundaries of its use in business and our personal lives is continually being challenged.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white;">Travelling these days, is different to 30 years ago when I was last in South America. If you know what a traveller´s cheque is, I am pretty sure I can describe you as an old bugger. These days you carry a credit card and a mobile phone. You use your credit card to go to an ATM machine to get money out or you simply use it to pay for every day purchases in whatever country you are in. Clearly this is easy and convenient.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white;">The technology to do this is high powered computers, with well-developed moron-proof software. I am pretty confident in assuming that there is no labour input in any of these transactions, so why then are we being ripped off every time we go to change money via a bank ATM, pay for a meal at a restaurant or simply buy some groceries with a credit card?</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white;">I believe we are being ripped off in so many situations these days with the use of modern technology. If I take out the equivalent of $50 over here, the Colombian bank and my bank in New Zealand between them (to be fair most of it is the Colombian bank) take 12 per cent more of this for the privilege of me gaining access to my money. I go to use my credit card and most businesses will charge an extra 5 per cent to pay by credit card because it costs them money to recover their money.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white;">I paid for two weeks accommodation and tuition here in Medellin last week and my offshore service margin on my credit card account was $19.69. For doing what? The computer software handles everything and it comes up on my account immediately. What costs are they recovering? </span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<img alt="Ike Williams has a serious issue with overly high credit card transaction fees." src="https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/p/p/0/r/o/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620x349.1poy7d.png/1525402735978.jpg" /></div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white;">I don't know what the transaction costs are for foreigners when they visit New Zealand, but I would imagine they are paying too much as well. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white;">It´s not just foreigners in New Zealand, we all know businesses which have tried not to accept our credit cards because of the transaction cost, but these days it's almost compulsory to have this method of payment. I know lots of businesses which don't carry the online money transfer service PayPal, because of the transaction cost. Presumably its more expensive, but for what - not having to put my pin in or sign a piece of paper?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white;">How can the exorbitant interest rates charged for credit card debt these days be justified if you don't pay it off every month? We have had a historically low level of interest rates for years now, but still they charge double-digit interest rates on this debt. Perhaps they can justify this and I would welcome a publicly explanation to enlighten us all. Surely its something the Commerce Commission could review and assure us that everything is fair and above aboard.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white;">I realise that a lot of work goes into the development of software and its update and maintenance, but how can high charges be fair? Is it not just an excuse to collect money? Surely the cost of these transactions with no human input must be parts of a cent these days, not 10, five or even one per cent of a transaction.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white;">I know this topic is a bit outside of my normal farming musings, but it's something that grates me. I wonder if it was the same brilliant accountant who told businesses, years ago now, that when they send their bill, add $10 to $20 and call it ¨sundries¨ We all know this is garbage. If you question the business, they usually reply it's for grease, paper towels, stationary, postage, soap and the like. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white;">I can't say these overly high credit card fees are ruining my visit to a great country, but they still get up my nose.</span></div>
<ul style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;">Ike Williams is a stud sheep breeder from South Canterbury.</span></li>
</ul>
Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-61892709460342755452018-01-20T12:16:00.002+13:002018-01-20T12:16:21.765+13:00Headwaters should release the findings on intramuscular fat in lambs and everything else for that matter!!!<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"> I have
just read another puff piece about Headwaters sheep. It was about Tim
Burdon from Mt Burke Station at Central Otago farming Headwaters
sheep. Perhaps these sheep are every bit as good as Mr Burdon claims, but I
would like people to consider the following.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The research
undertaken by Headwaters and the Alliance Group, under the umbrella of a
Primary Growth Partnership project between the government and industry, claims
that Headwaters lambs' intramuscular fat </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">“</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">averaged above three per cent compared to other breeds at 1%”. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It also claims </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">“omega 3 levels are
typically three times those of average lambs”.<span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">As I understand
it, none of this research has been peer-reviewed by an independent entity.
Myself and others have been refused access to the research and its findings.
Credibility would be enhanced by releasing all the research to interested
parties. It would be nice to know what lambs and what breeds Headwaters is
comparing its lambs with </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">what breeds, what sample size</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">, as the cynic in me wonders if they are comparing their lam</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">bs
with the worst possible sample.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">If their
research was released, then it might counter what I have been told more than
once, that intramuscular fat has no bearing on taste for the majority of lambs
killed. They are simply not old enough to lay down enough intramuscular fat to
have an effect on taste. It does have a bearing on older animals killed to be
eaten, and it's important in cattle, but they are killed at an older age.
If this research was released, then it could be peer-reviewed to see if
intramuscular fat was a red herring or was something to be concerned about.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/98353846/ike-williams-believes-the-customer-is-always-right-in-the-agindustry"><strong><span style="color: #0782c1;">READ MORE:</span></strong></a><br />
<strong>* <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/98353846/ike-williams-believes-the-customer-is-always-right-in-the-agindustry"><span style="color: #0782c1;">Ike Williams believes the customer is always right in the
ag-industry</span></a></strong><br />
<strong>* </strong><a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/sheep/67720665/ike-williams-always-trying-to-breed-the-ultimate-animal"><strong><span style="color: #0782c1;">Ike Williams always
trying to breed the ultimate animal</span></strong></a><br />
<strong>* <span style="color: #0782c1;"><a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/88886758/stop-killing-ram-lambs-utter-rubbish-or-not">ke Williams: Stop killing ram lambs: utter rubbish or
not?</a></span></strong><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">We are
told all Headwaters lambs are finished on chicory </span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">(</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">and clover I believe</span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">)</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"> for a month before
being killed. In the article I read, it states this "boosts levels of
omega 3 and intramuscular fat." Again the cynic in me questions how much
of this is a direct consequence of being finished on these crops and nothing to
do with genetics. Does the data they have collated distinguish between those finished
on these crops and those not? Can they genuinely apportion any gain to genetics
as opposed to merely lambs being finished as they should be?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">As I have said
many times, the meat companies should pay a premium for lambs finished
correctly, then </span><span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">you </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">would get better tasting lambs. You don't need years of research
to work that one out.</span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">”</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">In the article
in question it states "the PGP calculated premiums of 30 per cent to 50
per cent in prices for Omega Lamb</span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">but Tate [the project manager] said actual returns exceeded that. He
declined to give details.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">”</span><span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">I believe
Alliance pays them a 10 cents per kilogramme premium for their lambs, which is
primarily based on supply of numbers, not fantastic tasting lamb. But again
Alliance won't disclose what it's paying. At 10c/kg, this equates </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">to currently perhaps</span><span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"> </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">a one per cent premium.
I'm not sure where the rest comes from. I, like many shareholders, aren't
impressed with Alliance's policy in this regard, and I know that they are
losing lambs because of this and the price they are paying.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Remember these
sheep are merely composites. Composites have been around for decades now. Many
farmers started off with a good purebred flock, did well for five or six years,
by putting composites over them. But how many farmers do you know 10 years
down the track that are still using them? Not many, as problems often compound
and production</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">generally</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">starts to decline the
further you get into it.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Finally, Mr
Burdon's claim about foraging is excellent, but I am pretty sure the
proliferation of dairying forcing sheep onto the less productive country has
had the same effect on all breeds, in particular, romneys. I think a good flock
of romneys would be equally as good as these composites in this regard.<o:p></o:p></span>Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-28618609280689658682017-12-15T10:29:00.001+13:002017-12-15T10:29:19.739+13:00Common sense goes a long way in farming and most things for that matter!<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I have just read two articles,
one about some brothers in southland, being part of the Red Meat Profit Partnership
programme and another about Hogget mating.
I generally concur with what is
being said or written, with a few qualifications. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
However I guess what does alarm
me when I read these such articles is
that practically all this advice is not rocket science, it’s something that I
take for granted in my normal farming practice.
Now I don’t consider myself to be the greatest farmer in the world, but
in everything I do, I try to do it to the best of my ability and farming is no
exception.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Perhaps I was lucky to have a
father who was a good stockmen: not just teaching me what a good sheep is in
terms of conformation and structure etc., but just in management or perhaps
it’s because I am not a moron, or perhaps it’s because I do make an effort to
read all relevant literature that may be of value to what I do, which means it is
common sense. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Every time Beef and Lamb put out
some new guide for farming that I haven’t read, I always read it. Over many
years to date there has never been anything in these guides that I go
“hell I better start doing that” (the closest would be body condition scoring
with my hand, as opposed to eye, which is definitely more accurate), why is
this, because quite simply again it’s all what I consider common sense.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The brothers in the article were
advocating putting only 60% of their ewes to maternal rams for
replacements. I am not sure you could
put an exact percentage on it, but the best way to improve your flock has
always been and still is not to breed from the rubbish. You always put your worst ewes to a terminal
sire. I guess my concern in recent years
is how many people these days genuinely have the ability to determine which are
the good ewes and which are the bad ones, many do this purely on how fat they
are these days, which is certainly not the same, I am not just talking farmers,
I would be even more dubious of a consultant suggesting he could do this for
you. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
My caveat as to percentage is
unless your ewes are of the quality of my stud romney flock, you need to be
culling something like 50% of your ewe lambs (I still cull in excess of 50%)
when selecting replacements to ensure they are good enough to breed from. Some scientist suggested in the last year or
two that farmers should only cull 10 or
20% of ewe lambs out when selecting
replacements and therefore could mate most ewes to a terminal, which is
utter crap as most if not all farmers flocks aren’t simply good enough to come anywhere
near this.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I am not a big fan of farm
consultants generally, as cynically I think it must be difficult for a
consultant to not advocate change of some sort given they are charging you 100
plus dollars an hour for their advice (most of which I consider common sense
and a lot of which you get for free by reading or from agronomists who supply
product, in the case of cropping etc.).
I am pretty sure that most of us don’t enjoy paying a large bill for
advice saying keep doing what you are doing.
I am being a little bit facetious and accept there probably is a place
for consultants, but I also believe there are lot used who don’t need to be.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In my view the most important
time on a sheep farm is 6 weeks before mating through to the first 2 weeks of
mating. You need to ensure body
condition score of ewes is 3 or more, that they are on rising plain and that
the rams are working well and in the right numbers. This is the time when you endeavour to
maximise conception, after mating is over, the rest of the year we are simply
trying to minimise loss in terms of condition, abortion, reabsorption, deaths etc.
hence the reason mating is the most important as it sets the benchmark to start
from in terms of profit for you to minimise subsequent losses over the rest of
the year.<o:p></o:p></div>
Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-24600329161431088532017-11-04T09:00:00.003+13:002017-11-04T09:00:54.502+13:00 A few things that bugged me this week!!!<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I was visiting
some sheep studs in the North Island to buy a good stud ram. We travelled 1500
kilometres in three days, so it was a bit of mission</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When your
business is selling rams, the adage "the customer is always right"
comes into play. So you can imagine how I felt when we had an appointment with
a breeder at 11am, only to find he wasn't there. Nor were there any rams in the
yards. We tracked him down through text messages, just to be told to stay where
we were and he would come. We waited an hour, and no one showed.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Unless someone
died in his family, not only was this incredibly bloody rude but it epitomised
the attitude of a lot of business people these days. I try to accommodate the
client no matter how inconvenient it might be, but this attitude is prevalent
in all forms of business these days. It is like they are doing you the big
favour, when in fact it is the other way around.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Next was a need
to call the fertiliser co-operative Ballance. I rang their 0800 number and
waited 12 minutes before someone answered the phone. My first question was how
many people were on the team - it was appalling to have to wait so long. This
was something that is not unique to Ballance - Ravensdown and other
companies these days seem to accept equally long delays for their customers..
But go back two years, and you could almost always get through immediately
(unless it was the IRD).</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I know
companies want to cut costs, but given that my experience is not unique these
days, they need to consider where the right balance is. Too many waiting
periods of 10 to 12 minutes before anyone answers certainly makes me look at
other options.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The last thing
I want to hear while waiting is some sales pitch for a product the company I am
trying to get hold of is selling. For me, it has the opposite effect. I am less
likely to want to buy the product after being forced to listen to a sales pitch.
I don't think I am the only one who feels like this and,if I am part of the
majority then perhaps companies should revisit their tactics.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Finally, I read
something about the Omega Lamb Project receiving an innovation award for blah
blah. How is it that when I, as a shareholder, ask Alliance for a copy of its
data and research, I am stone-walled. I haven't heard of the Headwaters group
volunteering its information for all and sundry to see. I would like to see the
same chefs try some of my best southdown-cross lamb and then tell me theirs is
better than what I am producing, for which Alliance is not paying me a premium.
If, as a shareholder and taxpayer, I can't review the research and findings,
the cynic in me wonders on what information they decided to make such an award.</span><o:p></o:p>Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-72651524486328950922017-10-02T09:53:00.000+13:002017-10-02T09:53:00.080+13:00Beef and Lambs advertising re comparing indexes is Farcical and Misleading.<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Beef and Lamb New Zealand has made some major overhauls to the
Sheep Improvement Limited (SIL) genetic engine in recent years and reworked
some breeding values and indexes. Many of these I agree with, some I don't and
some I think are just a waste of time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In general, I support most of what it is trying to achieve. As I
have reiterated many times if you have a good understanding of the issues and
problems with the SIL engine and figures, then you are in a position to utilise
those breeding values and indexes that are accurate to assist you in breeding a
better sheep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">However, SIL breeding values and genomic breeding values are not
the panaceas that will allow you to breed the ultimate sheep. In my case I have
often culled my top ranking lambs on SIL, as while their figures may be high,
they are simply not fit to breed from.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This year my number one ranked ram hogget is a very good sheep,
but in my experience, it's hard to find a top ranking ram that is also a good
sheep and believe me, I have done some looking. The point is that to breed a
good ram you have to be a good stockman and ensure you maintain the
fundamentals so that five, 10 and 20 years down the track your productivity
continues to improve. If you don't, you will go backward and fast.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Unfortunately, there are a lot of breeders who either place far
too much emphasis on figures alone or quite simply don't have the <span class="gmail-scayt-misspell-word">stockmanship</span> ability to ensure that
the rams they are putting up for sale are indeed sound.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I know that Beef +Lamb NZ do acknowledge that <span class="gmail-scayt-misspell-word">stockmanship</span> plays a significant
role in breeding sheep. To this end, it is assisting in developing a <span class="gmail-scayt-misspell-word">stockmanship</span> video that will be a
training tool for many generations to come. It will ensure that those breeding
sheep will not only understand indexes and breeding values but also breed
animals that are sound and fundamentally correct to make sure that the
productivity graph continues to rise, or at least not go backwards.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Given the above, I was stunned when Beef + Lamb recently
started marketing to breeders via email and to the general sheep farming
community in agriculture magazines saying "every ram sold by a SIL breeder
now has a single index figure-one number that's comparable across all rams of
all breeds." The higher the number, the better the ram.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Honestly, this is absolute b....... and just because a ram has a
higher figure doesn't mean it's a better sheep, all it means is that one index
is greater than the other. Everything else being equal between the two, you
would, of course, take the higher index.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Secondly, for an index to be reliably compared between different
breeders and different breeds, you need an excellent linkage between breeders
and groups all around the country on all the traits contained in the index. The
better the linkage the more reliable the comparison. You may, in fact, have
good linkage regarding growth rates, but poor on survivability, for example.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In any event, the reality is that a lot of rams sold come from
flocks (around 50 percent, possibly slightly more) are not sufficiently linked
to everyone else to enable these indexes to be compared with rams from another
flock. Its meaningless and misleading to
suggest otherwise. You don’t know if the
higher index reflects good genetics or simply good linkages because you need to
be well linked to get high indexes and breeding values. You can of course compare rams within a flock
but not against others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I wish Beef + Lamb would first limit itself to providing a
service to breeders instead of being a marketing entity which cynically is done
to justify its existence. Secondly, I hope it ensures that what it does say
comes with the necessary caveats to be correct because, with the money they
have, the wrong message could have a very detrimental effect on the sheep
industry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-32674870138253009932017-08-27T20:44:00.003+12:002017-08-27T20:44:58.511+12:00Rural Urban Disconnect<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
There seems to be an ever
increasing disconnect between those who live in cities and those who live in
the Country. Many have written like I am now and tried to
disseminate information about issues that generally each group takes a
difference stance on, but if they only
appear in rural publications, the disconnect continues.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
My daughter recently told me she
was asked about who I support in Politics, to which she said I think National
(“not the greens she said at least”) to which the retort was along the lines
“oh he would he is a farmer”). Again,
symptomatic of the disconnect. For the record at this point, I probably will
vote national as overall, I think they are better for the country as a whole,
but are they perfect, hell no!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Most who support the Greens are
students (which I was one, a student that is) who haven’t lived in the real
world , the majority have yet to
experience the reality of what it is like to get by: I would never have left University if it
wasn’t for being broke all the time. The
other main support is the employed affluent sector of our population, who
already have the money to live in a utopian world. It’s easy to say this and that if you can
afford to, but it’s a bit different if you are struggling to make ends meet. Many of their policies sound great in
isolation, but most come at a substantial cost and make living a normal life
more expensive and contrary to popular belief a lot of what they want to
achieve is already being done.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
For example: I am a farmer, who is
required to have a many paged document known as a farm environment plan as to
what and how things should happen on my farm.
Underpinning this is a document detailing best farming practices, which I
am to be measured against. I am waiting
in line for the completion of my nutrients budget plan that sets guidelines as
to what fertilisers, how much crop, irrigation etc. is appropriate for my
property, which becomes part of my Farm environment plan. If upon inspection, with my supporting screeds
of documentation detailing what I am doing, I achieve a particular grade I am
reviewed every 2 years, if not it’s at every 6 months at my expense. There are thresholds; in terms of the amount
of winter crops grown and area of irrigation which if exceeded require a
consent application. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
This bureaucracy, besides
creating thousands of jobs and taking so much of my time and money already, is in play on mine and many other farms now. On top of this, which is the most important if you are farmer, it is in
your interest, both short and long term, to look after your environment in
every respect as you want to continue farming in years to come. It is a lifestyle choice to farm, you never
have stacks of cash, you may accumulate an asset, but in most cases this is
never realised as the next generation takes it on. Accordingly, crudely and bluntly, it doesn’t
make sense to poop in your own back yard.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The forthcoming general election
highlights it even more, where political parties, all of them to varying
degrees announce policies (policies is a bit generous, as to date its often a
statement with no explication as to how it will be implemented, in what
quantum, how it will achieve the purpose, loosely termed a policy, to obtain votes).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
When you vote you have to think
of the good of the country as a whole, not simply how it affects you, difficult
yes, but surely this what one should do?
For example take Labour’s
proposed water tax if they become the government: Issues to consider:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Who will this be imposed on:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 74.8pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>all the public, including water consumed by
everyone every day (the fairest way, given so much pollution of our water is
caused by urban sprawl) probably not, not many votes in that.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 74.8pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>On the
exported bottled water, which I
understand constitutes o.o something of a percent of total water taken in this
country, that will be a massive money earner, NOT;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 74.8pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>On irrigation users, is that everyone, aquifer
takes or just man made irrigation schemes such as Opuha that I am a shareholder
of with all my paperwork above. Opuha
dam, privately owned, cost in the vicinity of $28 million. Stores water that, if it didn’t exist, would
be all running out to sea. It is of
benefit to Fish and Game as minimum flows have to be maintained in rivers even
when a drought. Opuha is lauded as
probably the biggest contributor to South Canterbury economy in the last 20
years, directly and indirectly. Not to
mention it being a significant leisure resource to the area. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 74.8pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Horticultural and fruit growers, may be able to
pass on their cost to the consumer, the rest no.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 74.8pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
What effect will it have? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>The areas with the most polluted waterways in
this country are the areas with little or no irrigation. Most rural readers would know this by now as
it has been canvassed in rural papers, but do our urban brethren know this; Accordingly
a water tax on irrigation alone that has no relevance to the highly polluted
areas is probably going to achieve 5/8 of nothing, except garner votes from
uninformed voters; <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>A water tax
on shareholders of Opuha for example, will simply make it harder for a
farmer to make ends meet, which will in turn impact on the whole south
Canterbury economy;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Open up a huge can of worms regarding Maori
rights to water, presently no one owns it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
When considering who to vote for,
we need dissect all issues like this before deciding what stance to take on it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-13170530535162418892017-07-10T16:13:00.002+12:002017-07-10T16:13:12.712+12:00Breeding a bloody good sheep isn't getting any easier<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I attended the Beef and Lamb
Sheep Breeders Forum in Napier this last week.
It’s a conference where breeders come and listen to various talks from
scientists as to where we are heading with Genetic tools for breeding. You meet and discuss a lot of issues with
the experts and breeders a like.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
While I learned a lot, I
unfortunately came away feeling very uncomfortable about our future as breeders
of sheep. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
One main theme was genomics, a
DNA sample that (provided sufficient research and data has been gathered) will
provide you with more accurate breeding values than what we presently get from Sheep
Improvement Limited, SIL, via our phenotypic recording, i.e. weights etc. One scientist stated if you are not
genomically testing all your progeny then you shouldn’t be breeding sheep. A farcical statement given for example I run
a 1000 stud ewes, the cost of genomically testing all my progeny each year is
around $35000 and while breeding value accuracies would be better, its not the
panacea that makes breeding good sheep easy.
Sheep genetics is my passion and
I am good at it, but do I have ram clients who will pay an extra $300 for rams
to make it economic? If you are one,
give me a ring ASAP!! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Scientists and breeders generally
agreed that we need to be selecting for a lot of additional traits now; worm
resistance, facial eczema, and feed efficiency etc, which I don’t disagree
with. However every additional trait
you select for the difficulty in breeding<b>
a good sheep</b> with that trait increases exponentially. It is easier to breed a terminal sire than
a dual purpose one, simply because you don’t have to worry about wool or
fertility. If you focus solely on one
trait, you can make quick progress on that trait but inevitably at the expense
of everything else. To breed a good
productive animal that is sound with all these additional traits takes generations
of breeding! It is highly likely that I
will be dead before we do.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
My other takeaway that concerned me
was that the focus was entirely on performance recording to obtain genomic or
phenotypic breeding values to breed a sheep.
This scares me because as I have said many times, you need to be a good
stockman to breed a good sheep, figures alone won’t do it. Ultimately if a
sheep is not good on its feet, teeth, colour, constitution etc then in the long
term your production will decline. I
recently ran a report from the latest NZ SIL evaluation and reviewed the
indexes and ebvs, of my top 30 Romney
ram lambs born in 2016 on SIL: about
half I culled as lambs as they weren’t
good enough structurally and I pride myself on how good the conformation
of my sheep are. Finding a ram that is phenotypically put
together right and with good figures isn’t easy. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
My last article re Headwaters and
Alliance etc: it was reassuring to hear scientists and meat processors state
that omega 3 and intramuscular fat is present in most sheep to varying degrees
and does have an effect on taste, but there is a limit as to how much you want
and more importantly its influence is minor in the context of the other factors
affecting eating quality, namely stress on the animal, the chance for the animal to lay down fat before being killed,
what it was being finished on, how long it is hung for, how it is cooked
etc. Accordingly if Alliance gave us
some direction as to what they wanted us to finish these lambs on, we should
all get paid the same!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Finally whenever someone wants to
promote lamb, they seem hell bent on presenting it cooked as “rare”. Both times last week I didn’t like the lamb,
one lot I thought was bloody awful. I
like my steak medium rare, but my lamb/ mutton well cooked. It might be just me, but if it’s not and we
are promoting the eating quality of lamb then this is something we need to get
right.<o:p></o:p></div>
Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-30220663392193645612017-06-04T16:39:00.000+12:002017-06-04T16:39:05.669+12:00Primary Growth Partnership Research, should be made available to me?<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I don't know the ins and outs of how all this works, but I do
know that the money the government puts into a venture is money we give them as
taxes, so in theory, this is an investment on our behalf.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I also know that as a shareholder of the Alliance Group</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">(“Alliance”)</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">any money the company
contributes to a partnership programme should be an investment on behalf
of its shareholders.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Assuming this logic is correct, you would expect any venture
entered into by the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">G</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">overnment and Alliance and a private company called Headwaters</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">(“the Venture”)</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">, would be done on my
behalf, firstly as a taxpayer and secondly as an Alliance shareholder. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Headwaters is a composite ram breeding operation, that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">presumably</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">provides animals,
property, and man hours as its share of the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">V</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">enture. The Government's primary contribution is money.
Alliance, I believe, apart from providing killing facilities and data, pays
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">something like </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">20 cents per
kilogram premium</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">( </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">over
and above what </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">the
rest of its shareholders</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> get</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">)</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
for lambs killed through the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">V</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">enture.
I understand this premium payment has been paid for many years now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Recently Alliance publicly lauded the launching of a new brand
of lamb produced by the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">V</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">enture.
Apparently, this is fantastic tasting lamb with intramuscular fat, omega 3
etc. I have requested </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">more than once </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">to see the research, data and findings of the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">V</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">enture only to be fobbed
off. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I even had the Alliance chief executive David Surveyor come and
visit me, primarily because of an invoice I sent to them for the additional
costs associated with having to sell my heavy weight lambs through the Temuka
sale yards. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As most shareholders would know you would</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">get more money</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">through the yards </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">than killing them </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">through </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Alliance </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">as </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">lambs over 23 kg</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">were </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">heavily penalised.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I consider</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">ed</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">this
inequitable and ridiculous given that these same lambs were bought from the
sale yard and then killed by meat companies, including Alliance. Alliance never
paid my invoice, but to their credit (upon receiving the invoice), changed the
policy so that loyal shareholders would not be penalised if a small percentage
of lambs from a line</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">killed</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> were over</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">this weight</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">. I have </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">been advised </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">recently that non-shareholders, through third party buyers, have
also been getting the benefit of this change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I appreciated Mr Surveyor coming to see me, but again it was
made clear that the results, data, workings and findings of the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">V</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">enture would not be made
available to me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Anecdotally, I understand that they have found that grazing
lambs on chicory for the last month before killing, has a positive and
significant impact on the quality and taste of the lamb. I also believe </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">that from a genetic
standpoint, no advancement or breakthrough has been made and if there is
anything worth pursuing that it’s not unique to the Venture</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">but is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">common to many if not all other breeds of sheep in New Zealand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">My point is that everything from the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">V</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">enture should be readily
available to me, firstly as a tax payer and secondly as an Alliance
shareholder. It </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">would </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">stop me guessing and if there are significant developments then
it can benefit all of us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It seems to me the only organisation standing to gain
significantly from the launching of this new brand of lamb, and the research
and findings, apart from procurement of lambs for Alliance, is Headwaters.<span style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-83977169443764529842017-05-01T12:20:00.000+12:002017-05-01T12:20:53.223+12:00Some basic legal advice?<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
As some of you will know I played
lawyers for 6 years before returning to farming. For most of that period I specialised in
civil litigation, in other words I was a lawyer who tried to resolve disputes
for clients over money which obviously includes property.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I am someone that if I am ripped
off, scammed or cheated by someone or some entity, generally, I will do my
utmost to hold that person or entity to account. I do it, as I believe I have an obligation to
the next person they deal with, to make them think hard and long before trying
to scam, cheat or rip off their next customer.
I say generally because even I don’t fight everything, otherwise I would
never get any farming done!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The following are hopefully some
basic helpful tips that might help you avoid disputes or assist you once you
are in one:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Never assume anything.</b> I
recently changed power companies again on the farm, I was getting a very
competitive rate on my irrigation supply, but months down the track I realised
I was getting ripped on the power supply to the houses.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Be very explicit and clear as to what you expect some product/service
to do or achieve</b>. Indeed you could
record it in writing. That way when
the service or product doesn’t do what it is represented as being able to do,
you have a strong argument to show grounds for having the product replaced,
refunded or indeed compensation being paid, as it amounts to misrepresentation and/or
it is not fit for the purpose for which it is provided. There will be arguments as to who is to
blame, but it is a good starting point if you have a record in writing as to
what you expected it to do.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
If something goes wrong with the
product or service: each time record
this in writing with a date and your initial next to it as and when it happens. This is what is known as a <b>contemporaneous file note </b>which can be
used as evidence that it did in fact happen in any subsequent dispute.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>There is nothing in writing</b>:
Some transactions are required by law to be in writing, but most
don’t. The problem is if it comes down
to your word versus another, then it’s a harder to prove who is telling the
truth if nothing is in writing. Again a
contemporaneous file note of your discussion could be useful evidence later on. If you have an independent witness who can
corroborate what you say then that is strong evidence to support your case.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>An account you dispute.</b> If you
receive an account that you are not going to pay for whatever reason and simply
ignore it, then such an account cannot be pursued through the disputes tribunal
as <b>you have not disputed the account, </b>a
prerequisite for a disputes tribunal. If
you don’t dispute it, it could be forwarded to a debt collector or pursued via
the District Court. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The flip side is if you dispute
an account and communicate that to them, then such an account cannot be
referred to a debt collector. The
dispute tribunal is the cheap way to have such matters resolved. If you are seeking a refund or compensation,
then <b>if you can get the person or entity
to dispute your claim partly or in its entirety</b>, then you can pursue the
matter through the disputes tribunal (depending on the quantum of your claim as
there is a maximum limit) as opposed to issuing proceedings in the District
court, which in many cases will be uneconomic to do so <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Finally I know lawyers cost a bloody fortune</b>, but from my days of
practising as a civil litigator, the most common mistake clients’ made was to
come to see their lawyer too late. In
many cases the parties have become so entrenched in their position, that it
doesn’t matter how good the lawyer is the only route left is to issue court
proceedings. However if you go to a good
lawyer early, before the parties hate each other’s guts, often the matter can
be resolved fairly and quickly. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-82789231219953910092017-04-08T11:37:00.001+12:002017-04-08T11:37:09.196+12:00Genetically Modified Food - who do you believe?<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I watched a program recently
about this and thought it would be an appropriate and relevant to offer some
view on Genetically Modified Organisms (“GMO”) or Genetically Modified Food
(“GMF”) as it’s commonly referred to.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
As someone who likes to be well informed
before expressing my opinion, I spent a number of hours researching including
trolling the internet and trying to seek out someone who could shed some light
on the topic. All that effort was in vain as I
still do not have a definitive view on the topic, primarily because it would
seem that everything written has a predetermined agenda, in other words it’s
phenomenally biased. Moreover it seems
nigh on impossible to find some person who can give you an independent view on
it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It was just like the program this
last Sunday, in my opinion the organic
apple grower in the Hawkes bay was more concerned about protecting his organic
export sales, than discussing the pros and cons of GMF. His rationale was that the possibility of
cross pollination from GMO crops to non GMO would mean he couldn’t market
himself as GMO free or indeed organic.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The
argument wasn’t about what the actual risk of this happening was or how this
could be safeguarded against. Moreover
the grower thought that the government should not be able to override the
Hawkes Bay district council labelling itself as a GM free zone, which was
essential to the marketing of their apples.
An argument which was pretty farcical given that there is no difference
between Hawkes Bay and other apple growing regions in New Zealand (in terms GMO
crops at least) and if one day we had GMO crops in other regions, then the risk
of cross pollination could of course easily come from another district outside
of the Hawkes Bay, which makes a Hawkes Bay declaration as GME free bloody
stupid (Yes it’s a decision to be determined on a National basis). Note as far as I am aware we don’t have any GMO
crops in this country at all to date.
Although I would be surprised if we are not eating some food already
that has some GMO food ingredients in it from overseas.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The apple grower’s other principal
argument against GMO food was to say “go around the world and ask consumers
what they want?” Yes people with a good
discretionary income (not poor or impoverished people) responded that they
would rather buy organic food (which is not necessarily the same as non GMO food). From my reading it appears most consumers apparently
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“<i>buy organic food because they
believe they are avoiding all pesticides</i>”.</span> However one thing I did learn from my reading
of various biased articles was the misnomer that organic farming means no use
of pesticides. Apparently a lot of pesticides are used (and
often more regularly than conventional pesticides) so long as such pesticides
are derived from “natural sources”, it’s okay. Moreover there is some debate about the risk
to human health and the environment with many of these pesticides organic
farmers use. The apples on the program
I watched the other night looked amazing not like the ones grown in my backyard,
that do grow naturally free of any attention from me whatsoever. My point being that to justify your argument
by saying this is what consumers want is pretty weak, when realistically these same
consumers base their opinions on a marketing story that almost certainly
doesn’t disclose all the relevant facts. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Unfortunately I am not in a
position to advance the debate on what we should do in regards to GMO
crops. However I can recommend that if
you want a short article that addresses the pro and cons of the debate, then
google an article “Genetically Modified Food Pros and Cons List” written by a
Crystal Lombardo. It’s a good starting point. From this I agree wholeheartedly with the
following quote: <i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“<span style="background: white; color: #222222;">If used properly, the science behind
genetically modified food could be used to end hunger. If used improperly, the
science could be misused and potentially endanger (sic) our entire food supply.
This means that if we are to pursue this field of food science, we must have
responsible management of the research being done and have third party
independent verification and monitoring of results so that it becomes possible
to distinguish fact from fiction.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As such I conclude is this is definitely a decision to be
determined by Government having regard to the above quote, not on adhoc basis
by various regional or district Councils.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-16516667015001463862017-03-05T21:50:00.000+13:002017-03-05T21:50:19.970+13:00More Rhetoric regarding the Wool and Meat Industry in New Zealand.<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">I am a passionate stud sheep breeder who obviously wants there to be a
strong future for sheep farming in New Zealand, but what is the future, I don’t
know?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I do know that I am sick to death of listening to commentaries on the
topic which are just generalised generic crap, with no detail as to how we
achieve these grandiose statements they make.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">A perfect example of this recently was Damien O’Connor, the agricultural
spokesperson for Labour, waffling in an interview with Jamie McKay on the
Country along the lines: wool is a great sustainable product with health benefits,
fire resistant blah blah, they need to get out there and market the product,
too long nothing has been done by the government, by processors, by blah blah. I don’t recall exactly what he said but it
was along these lines: he uttered similar rhetoric regarding the meat industry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I know from my own experience and involvement over the years that a lot
of people and entities have endeavoured to get the message out about wool, they
have tried to market a clean green traceable story behind it, they have
emphasised the positive attributes of wool, but has any traction been made,
given the price of wool currently you would probably say no. Should more be done? Sure, but what do we
do? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I did a quick search on the internet:
wool versus synthetic carpet, some
key differences: Price, synthetic
carpets generally much cheaper: synthetic carpets generally much more fade
resistance (solution dyed nylon carpets carry warranties for this) an issue if
have large windows or doors where carpet is exposed to sun; wool better insulator,
warmer in winter and cooler in summer and good for those with asthma; wool
generally more resilient, but will wear more in heavy traffic areas compared to
some synthetic carpets. Wool is a
natural sustainable renewable product. There
is a lot more on the internet for consumers to digest before determining what
carpet to buy. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">However like most things today I would imagine the biggest obstacle for
wool carpets is Price! Clearly anything
made of wool is a niche product that needs to be aimed at the wealthy consumer,
a generic statement made by me! However I
really don’t know how we gain more traction in this market.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Citing Icebreaker as an example is pretty
tiresome, given this is a fine wool clothing product produced by a private
company that focuses on a very small niche market, in theory it should be easy
to replicate, but I suspect the bigger the niche market you are trying to
target the harder it is! Moreover clothing is a product that appeals to
people’s vanity and in terms of the price to carpet a home, is a very small sum
to pay and such I would presume it’s much easier to market an expensive
sweatshirt to a person than a wool carpet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Others waffle on about how we need to bring back a Wool board and a Meat
board: to do what? If they were so fantastic the first time
around why is the sheep industry in the present predicament it is today. If these boards are the answer, could the
advocates please state why they will make a difference, give specifics of how
and what they will and can do, including the amount of funding that may be
required to achieve what they are suggesting, not simply we need to bring back
the Wool Board to market generically around the world.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I think many people forget that while we
as New Zealanders consider ourselves big players in the market, we are not, we
are just a drop in the ocean and as such to create the sort of brand
recognition that the “Wool board would do” is so far beyond the resources we
have its ludicrous.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I applaud those who publicly air their opinion, as arguably without it,
nothing would ever change or improve.
However those who simply regurgitate what has been said for the last 20
years, without providing specifics or detail as to how we achieve these stock
standard generic statements, I, for one, would rather not have to read or
listen to any more of their dribble!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-40689210023691138622017-02-07T16:25:00.004+13:002017-02-07T16:25:45.264+13:00Stop killing ram lambs: Utter Rubbish or Not?<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In response to an article I wrote
a month or so ago regarding the eating quality of our lamb, it was suggested that if we stopped killing
and processing ram lambs, then this would go a long way to sorting this issue.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The same person did acknowledge
that the Meat companies have carried out taste tests to satisfy themselves to
the contrary (but she “questions those results”). I understand that a few years ago Alliance
undertook significant research in this regard and found there was no
difference.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Where do I stand on this? As a pragmatic farmer applying a common sense
approach view to this question, for me it simply comes down to the age and maturity of the animal in
question. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
My lambs are born from I
September onwards. I generally aim to
kill my lambs at a live weight of 44 kgs or above; in the hope of averaging between
a 19 and 20 kg carcass weight. As I am
all studs, I don’t kill lambs off mum; the majority of all lambs have to be
weighed at weaning and again at least 6 weeks later to obtain meaningful
genetic growth figures for selling rams.
The last of my works lambs are killed by early to Mid-April, of which
the large majority of these are ewe lambs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Do I think there is an issue with
the taste of the ram lambs that I kill during this period? The answer is quite simply NO! The lambs are young and being killed at, for
the want of a better term, what I would call an immature weight. The combination of these two factors I
would think ensures there is no difference in taste. Take a ram lamb say born 1 September, which
is killed in early April as it has only just reached 44kg live weight, which
incidentally is firstly a bloody cull, and secondly inevitably a multiple and
most importantly still immature, so will there be an issue as to taste: I somewhat doubt it. This assumes the lamb is in good condition, i.e.
prime, for which the works <b>should pay a
premium </b>(and do not) as that must affect the eating quality and taste of
the lamb.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
But if you take a ram lamb that
is 50kg or more live weight over that same period, then the sex of this lamb
may affect taste, as it’s obviously a very mature lamb. I do sell a few through Temuka that are 50 kg
or more, because being a stud breeder I can’t cull my lambs till early February
(for the reason outlined above: growth figures). But generally no lamb is going to reach such
a live weight before being killed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Similarly a skinny ram lamb (i.e.
not prime, for whatever reason that achieves the target live weight of 44kg and
is killed, there could be an issue as to taste but primarily because its skinny
not because it’s a ram lamb, as its very unlikely that such a lamb has attained
any form of maturity.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Accordingly the works present
payment regime: that pays you even more abysmally for heavy lambs and that the
lambs are still young i.e. killed by Mid-April ensures the sex of the lamb has very
little if not no bearing at all on the taste.
As my circumstances are similar to how most lambs are killed in New
Zealand, I believe this holds true for practically all lambs killed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I actually would love to see
technology that enables us to ensure that all lambs destined for the works, are
born as ram lambs, for the simple reason they are ready to be killed weeks
ahead of ewe lambs (this would be waste of time for me as a stud breeder, but
be big benefit for a lot of commercial farmers).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>The cynic in me </b>does however wonder about those ram lambs killed
through the winter season, which are considerably older and likely much more mature;
as I can assure you I wouldn’t be eating them<b>! <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-19207939789450655502017-01-23T14:21:00.000+13:002017-01-23T14:21:32.609+13:00Paid success no basis for gong!<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Twice a year the government makes
various people knights or dames of the realm!!! I don’t consider myself a
republican or a royalist. I would also
assume that I, like most people, are unaware exactly what the criteria is upon
which they decide to bestow such titles on people.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
However, irrespective of what the
criteria are, twice a year, I find myself absolutely stunned as to who receives
such titles. If someone simply pursues their
goals or career and they get well or adequately remunerated for it: why do they
deserve to be made a knight or a dame simply because they have been successful
in their chosen field It’s farcical! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Surely to be worthy of receiving
such a title you must do more than simply pursue your career or your vocation
and be successful at it. You need to
use your position, success and/or status in society to help many others over
your lifetime to be even considered worthy of being made a Knight or a Dame. Logically this would mean most people would
normally receive such an honour in their twilight of their life as it takes
success, benevolence and hard work over a lifetime to truly make a difference
in society. It goes without saying that
someone’s contribution in this regard is not their vocation or employment for
which they are getting paid.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I don’t know much about the basis
for receiving a CNZM or ONZM either. But
I think I heard Phil Goff being quoted after receiving one of these that he was
simply doing his job. Which succinctly sums
up my view that if you are doing your job well, do you deserve this as surely
even in a small country in New Zealand, we have millions of people who do their
job well?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I have a lot of admiration for
what Val Adams has achieved in the field of athletics, but being extremely
successful in the world as a shot putter, for which she is remunerated in some
form or another means she should be made a Dame? No way!
Perhaps twenty years down the track when through her success and status
she gives so much back to society via unpaid appearances, speaking engagements
or endorsements etc, then she may deserve to be made a Dame.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Sir Graham Henry is another. For most of his career as a rugby coach, he
has been extremely well paid for pursuing his vocation and ultimately his
career. Again I admire what he has
achieved and done, but did he deserve to be made a knight, again based on my
criteria, no way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
A coupler people who in my eyes
do deserve it: Sir Colin Meads; sure he was a legendary All Black, but it is
what he done over the subsequent decades in giving his time, endorsement etc to
many worthy causes. What he put back
into rugby. It is his lifetime of what
he gave back, not as part of his job, which means he deserved to be
knighted. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Similarly Sir Peter Leitch, aka
the Mad Butcher. A very successful
businessman, a man who deserved to be knighted, not for his success as a
businessman, but for what he has done (and still does) for so many entities,
charitable, sporting and otherwise. He
has used his success to help so many others.
The man seems to be a dynamo; he is always using his notoriety and
resources to help some cause.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Sporting stars can have the
abilities recognised through Halbergs, or Halls of Fame etc if we are simply
looking for a way to acknowledge how good someone is in their chosen field of
endeavour. Surely such success alone
cannot merit being made a Dame or a Knight.<o:p></o:p></div>
Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-70457590934951439902016-12-13T10:14:00.002+13:002016-12-13T10:14:57.092+13:00Great Tasting Lamb<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I am writing around this topic
again because I read another article on taste research, presumably this one was
put out by Headwaters, given it appears in both the NZ farmer and Farmers
Weekly.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Headwaters are essentially an
entity that breeds composite sheep (a cross between Romney, Texel, Finn and Perendale
breeds as stated in the article). As I
understand it their rams are sold to shareholder farmers of the entity. I am unaware whether this breed is now what
is considered stabilised or not, by this I mean whether they still introduce
outside purebreds eg a Romney ram: if not its stabilised and no additional
hybrid vigour is being introduced.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I read the article and again it
repeats the importance of polyunsaturated intramuscular fat and omega-3 fatty
acids being key factors in succulent tasty lamb. I certainly not saying this is not correct,
but I do think you will find that if they have 30000 lambs meeting such
criteria, then there will be millions of other lambs around the country that
would also fulfill such criteria. If what
they are doing is indeed the benchmark, why isn’t Alliance rolling this out for
all its suppliers, given the suggestion there may be a premium for good tasting
lamb one day: wow what a radicle idea that is!!
A day all of us are looking forward to.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
There are many things that go
into taste: I understand for example that Alliance acknowledges that if the
meat yield gets too high, then the eating quality of such a lamb seriously
diminishes. Similarly others would argue
that very fast growing lambs are also not that tasty as such animals lack a
covering of fat (which does seem at odds with whats written in the headwaters
article, love to see the data on this).
Generally, as with most things there is balance to be struck between
meat yield and growth, it’s a rarity to find an animal high on both.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I have stated this before: historically if you asked someone considered
a stockmen and one who likes to eat decent lamb or mutton, then almost every
time the answer will be the best eating lamb is either a Southdown or merino
cross lamb. The explanation being that
both of these breeds have very fine wool and as such that translates into fine
textured meat that is succulent and very tasty.
When is a company like Alliance actually going to fund some research to verify
whether this is true or not. If indeed
if it is true: then we already have established breeds that will provide the
consumer with very enjoyable lamb eating experience. I almost always only ever eat Southdown cross
mutton or lamb and I have never ever had a visitor not blown away by how nice
it was. It would be good to know if this
could be done on a national basis.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The comments in this headwaters
article regarding fat, namely the focus on moving away from lean meat and have
some fat cover on your ewe flock, is certainly not something unique to
Headwaters. Most breeders worth their
salt today are focusing on this, indeed even SIL (Sheep Improvement Limited)
have acknowledged that rewarding animals with no fat with high ebvs is not
right and results in a sheep that you don’t want. There are many breeders who have
endeavoured to keep a balance between growth and doing ability (yes fat). Condition scoring your ewes regularly and
culling those hard doing ewes is one way that every farmer in the country can
easily improve this aspect of our sheep.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I do think that one of the
quickest way to improve the taste of lamb, apart from all the research that
many groups and breeders are doing (not just Headwaters), would be for Meat
companies to quite simply pay a premium for those lambs that are ready to kill,
i.e. they are thriving and in good order, (they have some fat cover) as opposed
to so many lambs that are killed on weight alone, but are hard and extremely lean,
who wants to eat that!!<o:p></o:p></div>
Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-68791887678971846152016-11-04T17:05:00.000+13:002016-11-04T17:05:05.104+13:00Buying rams, who from and which ones?
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"></span><div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">For those who don’t
know me, I am a ram breeder; breeding Romneys, Southdowns, South suffolks and Lincolns.
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">I recently visited a
number of studs with a view to buying a good outside sire and quite frankly:
while I saw the odd good line up, I have seen a more bloody awful lines of rams
that are just not sound sheep which should not be sold: this is not a judgement
on type, this about what I consider basic fundamentals such as pasterns, legs,
colour etc.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">The following is a
prioritised order of what to consider when deciding who to buy from firstly and
then actually buying the rams:</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">1.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Do you trust the breeder?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This is the most important, because in this
day and age, there is so much marketing that sounds good, but in reality
doesn’t add value or isn’t reflective of what they are doing, it’s just
marketing crap.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>DNA parentage for
example is so expensive and realistically adds little value to the rams you
buy, it’s more often than not a marketing gimmick.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>How do you determine if trust the breeder:
you read as much as you can about them, ask them a lot of questions, and any
response that sounds like crap, you don’t go there; and</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">2.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Once you have established trust, you
need to satisfy yourself that this breeder is focusing on the core things you
are looking for.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>If its fertility or
survival for example, this must be part of what they focus on.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Obviously the breeder may be doing a lot of
things, but if you are looking for some key traits, then this must be at least
part of their breeding programme; and</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">3.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Then you need to see the breeders flock:
satisfy yourself that the type of sheep they are breeding are what you
want.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>If you are unsure of this, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">which is quite likely</b>, then don’t buy
all your rams off them in the first instance, buy a few and see how they go
(not one ram as that’s not a big enough sample size); and</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">4.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Then when selecting your rams, don’t
worry about the figures in the first instance.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>If your breeder is doing his job properly, there should be no real poor
figured sheep being offered for sale.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>You initially select on type and basic fundamentals (this includes
pasterns, how they walk, shoulders, colour, teeth, eyes etc.). <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>These basic fundamentals may be difficult to
find; but hopefully you will have selected a breeder that does focus on
this.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Don’t be sucked in to believing
that these basics are not important, there are breeders who will tell you it’s
all about figures and performance!<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In
the short term you might get away with such an approach, particularly if you do
have a good flock of ewes, but in the long term 5 to 10 years plus you will go
backwards dramatically if you don’t maintain the basics.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px 48px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">5.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">If you want say 5 rams, then once you
have selected on type, hopefully 10 to 15 rams you like the look of: then get
stuck into the figures.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Firstly kick
out anything that is poor on the core traits that are important to you.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Then after that don’t over analyse things
too much, as there are many traits which makes it difficult to trade one off
against the other.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>If you still have
more rams than you want, then with SIL, focus on the overall DPO, i.e. take the
highest ones left.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>When looking at the
figures ask the breeder to explain them if you don’t know, as some SIl Figures are
a complete waste of time and can be wrong.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>If the breeder doesn’t seem to understand them (there are some), then
perhaps you shouldn’t be buying rams there.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px 24px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">One
last point, as I have seen a lot of rams recently that are quite simply unsound
rams that should not be sold, but nevertheless there are hundreds of these rams
being sold.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This leads me to believe
there are number of farmers who either are being convinced to buy on figures
alone or don’t have the ability to buy sound rams.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>If this is you, then ask around for someone
who does know and take them with you to help select the rams.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is certainly not something to be
embarrassed about as it’s no different to getting an agronomist to give you
advice on grasses pastures etc., or a lawyer for legal advice.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In my view one of the keys to being successful
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">is knowing when you don’t know</b> and
therefore seeking the appropriate advice.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-73351515369809674992016-10-17T11:56:00.001+13:002016-10-17T11:56:37.085+13:00It’s not enough for a Cooperative to simply market itself as one to get your business!<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In theory I am a strong advocate
of cooperatives as quite simply the producers are the shareholders of the
entity and as such you would expect everything to be done in the best interest
of the shareholder. However in reality I
am far from convinced this is the case.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
My concerns in this regard have
again been highlighted by the official signing of the Silver Fern Farms (“SFF”)
Joint Venture arrangement with a Chinese company. Alliance Meats (“Alliance”), who I am a
shareholder and supplier of, have reiterated in their meetings, articles, weekly
emails etc that “we are the only cooperative left and as such the only one that
truly has the farmers’ interest at heart”.
I am paraphrasing here, but this has been a familiar marketing theme for
over 12 months now. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The problem is this in itself is
not a good enough reason to supply a cooperative. It would be if the theory holds true above,
but I am not sure that it is, a cooperative <b>ALSO</b> has to be good successful business that commands support and
loyalty of its shareholders through its business acumen, returns, integrity,
transparency etc <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In a recent article Murray
Taggert (Chairman of Alliance) apparently said “Grand Farms wanted to process
more imported meat and was pushing more to an ‘up market’ level”. Grand Farm being the processing giant in China
that Alliance is looking to strengthen their existing relationship with (their
words not mine). I am sorry but isn’t
this the very thing that we don’t want (it was certainly one of my concerns
with the SFF joint venture): that we remain a supplier of whole carcases of
lamb/mutton. How does such an
arrangement whereby a company in china processes the meat, into presumably the
cuts the consumer wants (‘up market level’), extract more money for me the
shareholder/supplier of Alliance. The
added value is surely going directly to the Chinese company Grand Farms! I would have thought such an arrangement was
the antithesis of what most, if not all, meat industry commentators suggest
should happen if we are to extract more added value through the chain of supply,
so the farmer, in this case Alliance shareholders, received higher returns at
the gate.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Then on top of this Alliance has
now entered into a joint venture with the New Zealand Merino Company (“NZM”) to process and market merino meat
under the Silere brand. In my humble
opinion, this was originally simply a contract entered into by SFF with the
primary purpose to procure livestock. I
understand a premium was paid, which no doubt was ultimately cross subsidised
by other suppliers to SFF at the time. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I thought SFF may have actually
stumbled into a good thing here, as historically most would accept that merino
(or merino cross) and Southdown (or Southdown
cross) lamb is the best tasting meat (incidentally this to do with the fineness
of the wool translating into fine textured meat, something that any experienced
stockman will tell you, but I have yet to see any meat company do trials
on). However I was reliably informed by
an Alliance executive, in a general discussion some months back, that there
were major issues with Silere brand because the colour of the meat made the
marketing of it very difficult.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Logically if it was a great money
spinner, why would SFF give it up? The
cynic in me wonders if the premiums that I understand were paid by SFF for
Silere meat, which they now have no legal obligation to pay, and more
importantly no longer wish to pay because there is no money in it, is why SFF’s
partnership with NZM is now at an end.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Accordingly if any of these
things (if not all) of the above are correct, why have Alliance entered into
partnership with NZM to process and market this Silere brand. Moreover if Alliance pays a premium, because
again it’s back to the same old chestnut of procuring stock, then I for one will
be bloody annoyed at subsidising a brand and product which presumably has not
been a success to date. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I will continue to supply
Alliance, but I have to say that my loyalty is being seriously tested and realistically
it’s not far from being broken.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-33657347822152628062016-09-20T11:27:00.001+12:002016-09-20T11:27:17.437+12:00What and how should we market ourselves to the World?<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
What incensed me enough to write
about this were Labour’s Damien O’Connor and some Green MP waffling on about
what and how we should be producing and marketing ourselves. I say waffling as both seem to draw no distinction
between marketing ourselves as clean and green and marketing ourselves as
organic producers of food, as if these two things were interchangeable. These terms are not interchangeable they are
very different with very different consequences for our economy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I need to make it quite clear
that I am not anti-organic farming, it’s a niche area of the economy where a
few producers can make good money. The
key thing to remember with Organics though is that it relies on the rest of the
world’s (or a major portion of it) economy doing really well. As successful organic farming is highly
dependent upon people having a high discretionary income and as such being
prepared to pay a substantial premium over and above a non-organically produced
product; their desire for such product drops away quickly when times are tough. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
A perfect example was the global
financial crisis in 2008; it killed the market for organic milk; the market and
the price for it went through the floor.
It’s only in the last coupler years that Fonterra has again sought to
ramp up its organic milk supply and paying a decent premium for it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
You need a considerable premium
for organics because as a general rule your productivity is considerably
less. How much less is debateable, but anecdotally
based on samples and scaling up, possibly 30 to 40% less than what we produce
now. Some would say well the
difference in price would outweigh the loss of production, but quite bluntly
that would be crap because the reality is that all these niche markets are
limited in size and as such it doesn’t take too much extra product to flood
such a market which then means the price drops dramatically and hey presto you
end up with the price you were already getting for non-organically produced food,
but now producing a lot less of it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Accordingly for Green MPs to
continually harp on about organics being the way to go for New Zealand and
citing Fonterra with organic milk as an example, shows their ignorance and
complete lack of understanding of the market for such a product.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Again good luck to any organic
farmer supplying their niche market, but don’t try and tell the rest of us this
is what we should all be doing, because if we all did, we would swamp the
market and destroy any premium they presently gain.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The clean green image is a
different story: this is not something that applies only to organics, this is
about our mountains, our rivers and lakes, our air and beaches and how we feed
and raise our animals on grass and wide open spaces.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
This is the marketing story that
needs to be associated with virtually every food product we sell overseas. We need to continually reiterate this story
to the rest of the world, have labelling and packaging that reflects it. All brand names need New Zealand in big
letters, so the word New Zealand becomes synonymous with the clean green image
we wish to promote.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
All packaging should
be in colours that back up this clean green image we wish to promote, i.e.
blues, greens, clear water, pictures of mountains and rivers etc, animals
grazing in wide open spaces. This sort
of marketing, which some companies presently do well, others not so, is what
helps to differentiate our product from other countries and in turn allows us
to obtain a premium (certainly not as much as organics) as the market we are
targeting is more mainstream and inevitably will still be price sensitive but
nevertheless it’s a premium that we obtain simply because of where it has come
from.<o:p></o:p></div>
Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-19650169670934398252016-08-11T19:03:00.000+12:002016-08-11T19:03:11.780+12:00Housing it needs to go up, not out!!!
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Housing is
the political football at the moment and it would appear there is no easy
solution. From an agricultural perspective I hope everyone
in Auckland and every other town and city in New Zealand remembers
that our economy and our standard of living is still highly dependent on
agriculture.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">They need to be
mindful of this fact because we simply can't keep subdividing
agricultural land off to build more houses for more people in towns or
cities to live in. In almost all cases the taken land is
our top producing land and the same land that drives our economy.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A topical
example is Auckland's encroachment on Pukekohe and the surrounding area. This
is arguably some of New Zealand's most productive country for various forms of
horticulture and viticulture. It's the same all over New Zealand
- good producing flat land on the outskirts of a town is subdivided
off to build houses. This land is never recovered and rarely is the stoney
hilly garbage country that produces little replaced by housing.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Even worse
are lifestyle blocks with 20 acres sectioned off to build a house. The
initial phrase of: "I can't wait to live in the country" soon
tires and I believe something like 80-90 per cent of these
lifestyle-yearning owners want out within two years mainly because they
didn't realise the work required to look after 10 sheep, two goats and
cattle beast. This work has to be done in the evenings or weekends
because of the full time job they hold down. Worse, this land is almost always good
productive land which is lost to farming for good.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">What's the
answer? Quite simply we need to build upwards. That's easy for
me to say as a farmer living in wide open spaces, but it's the reality and I
would point out that I am hopefully contributing on a productive economic basis
to the economy to enjoy such a privilege.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We have to get
beyond this quarter acre section mentality that New Zealanders have basically
considered a right for many decades now. Sure, compared
with the rest of the world we have a low population density,
but not many countries enjoy our standard of living because of our
reliance on agriculture. Accordingly, the subdivision of good
productive land can't continue if we want to maintain our standard of
living. </span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The housing
crisis needs to remedied by building decent apartment blocks with green areas
and communal facilities. We need to build adjoining houses. We need to
repopulate the centres of cities and live in the area you work so we can
cut down the need for a car. We need good green areas and playgrounds
for families. Again, this is not something that just applies to Auckland; it
applies to every town and city in New Zealand. Surely the repopulation of
urban centres with most people living where they work will also help to alleviate
the transport problems a city like Auckland, in particular, faces. I am
just stating the obvious, but it never ceases to amaze me how often the obvious
seems to get overlooked in politics.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There are
numerous examples around the world where cities have repopulated the
centre of the city and built upwards in a tasteful manner. It
can be done in a classy way. I recall in the last year a television
programme about a major Canadian city that has done exactly this.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">England is
often criticised for all sorts of things by New Zealanders; but I was always
impressed by how easy it was to access the country and see productive farming
operations given its population. This was possible because of
their densely populated villages, towns and cities.
Adjoining houses with no lawns or little sections and apartment
blocks made this possible, although granted they have some awful council
estates. </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A New Zealander
would take the mickey out of these things when living there, but the reality is
this is the sort of thing that has to happen in New Zealand now. </span><br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-61418468643375813832016-07-12T09:34:00.002+12:002016-07-12T09:34:16.824+12:00Encouraging young people into Farming-how do we do it?
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Young People into Farming- How do we do it?</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have read a few articles lately
around new and renewed initiatives to encourage young people into the farming
industry. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It is a major problem for farming
whether it’s dairy, beef, sheep or cropping etc: the average age of a famer is
right in the target demographic of a Winston Peters rally (grey power).</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Any initiative is good, but I am
of the view that most come too late as they focus only on kids about to leave
or have left school, or in the early teens or the young unemployed.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We have a major disconnect today
between farmers and what we call townies.
Increasingly the majority of people living in cities have very little or
indeed no contact with a farm or farmers.
In the past it seemed most city children had an uncle aunty grandfather
etc that were farming whom they would
visit regularly, stay with or indeed spend much of their school holidays on the
farm. It is from such experiences that a
city child catches the bug, the passion to want to be farmer. Without such an experience a child is
unlikely to enter the industry, as farming like all professions, is about your passion
for it (if you are to be good at it);
yes you need to make a living and hopefully a good one, but if you don’t
have a passion for it, money alone won’t keep you in the industry.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This brings to me an idea I have
had for a while and would like to see developed: namely a competition that is
split into two age groups (if a success, perhaps more). One group being primary school Kids, the other
Secondary School Kids. The competition is
around raising a pet ewe lamb from say a week old to weaning (90 to 100 days),
these lambs are taken to compete against others at what would be a designated
regional show (for example Leeston Show in Canterbury, needs to be an early
spring show), some thought needs to be given on how they are judged, primarily
on conformation (you obviously keep the conversation away from carcasses and
death etc). A designated number of place
getters at regional shows could then go forward
into an island or national competition at a bigger show, e.g. Canterbury A and
P show.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The lambs could be either bought
outright at a week old for say $120 or for $30 at the beginning and then
returned to the farmer after the competition (hence the need for ewe lambs as
there is a chance of being kept as a replacement) This arrangement in itself would require two
visits to a farm.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">These lambs would primarily be raised
on milk and some sort of pellets at their homes in the city (information packs
would be given to all children who want to enter on how to do it, getting lambs
raising them and returning them etc.)</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The key to this working in my
view is substantial sponsorship and therefore prize money: for secondary school
student winners there should be something like a S5000 a year scholarship
(perhaps more) for 3 years towards a University degree with an agricultural
focus of some sort. Primary school
category; again some sort of significant relevant prize. It needs to be significant to encourage
parents to get on board with what would require significant effort on their
part. If there is a major carrot at the
end of it with little cost to them (need sponsorship of the milk powder and
pellets to grow the lamb) parents would get behind it.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">You market it through the schools
and I believe (with a significant prize that appeals to children and/or their
parents) you would get a significant uptake of Kids who want to do this. Out of this participation (going to the farm,
raising the lamb, attending the show) there would be a number of children who
would catch the bug and the passion to want to be a farmer or be involved in
the agricultural industry and an improvement in the relationship between the
rural and city community.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is just an idea that I would
love someone or some entity to take, develop and implement. </span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-85653086553301507552016-06-13T11:48:00.000+12:002016-06-13T11:48:11.695+12:00The director’s responsibility to the shareholder?
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There are a number of legal
obligations as set out in the Companies act, which anyone can go and look up,
but what I want to address is what I consider the director’s core
responsibility, namely the one to the Company’s shareholders.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Most would be directors go around
campaigning on a particular mandate, get elected to the Company (presumably on
such a mandate), but then we never hear from them again, why is this? </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Some classic examples in recent years
is the Meat Industry Excellence candidates elected to the Silver Fern Farms
(“SFF”) and Alliance Meat companies: publicly
at least you have essentially heard nothing from them and moreover as we have
seen with SFF they have actually gone against the very mandate they were
elected on. Now there may be good
reasons for this as one of the biggest problems with being on the outside and
professing how things should change is that you are not privy to all the
information and facts the entity has and moreover there may be good reasons why
the mandate upon which you campaigned cannot be implemented, perhaps they were simply
stupid ideas!!!!</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My problem, in both instances
above, is the failure of directors to advise their shareholders why their ideas
can’t be implemented, or why things are different to what they thought. It’s simple communication. If we are kept fully informed of what is
going on we are more likely to accept the situation, albeit that we are unhappy
with it. Commercial sensitivity is often
cited as the reason for saying nothing which is just a smokescreen for not
fulfilling this core role to the shareholder, in my experience, in general you
can still be kept informed without disclosing the detail that may jeopardise a
company’s operations.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The SFF meetings last year re the
proposed Joint Venture (“JV”) were another example of how directors forgot
about the core responsibility to the shareholder, those meetings were sales pitches
for the joint venture to go ahead, not information dissemination to
shareholders so they could be fully informed before voting. At the meeting I attended, we were advised
us of the positives of the JV, but what of the negatives and lets face it there
are fair few negatives: 60/40 split cooperative always in control, but 50 50
split potential to lose control just one example. Moreover an SFF banker explaining why they
were in favour of the JV as opposed to making money by lending to SFF as it was
sold at the meeting, may have been helpful. A director is not a salesperson; a director
is a facilitator and disseminator of information both positive and negative to
the shareholders.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Finally, and speaking
generically, directors, councillors etc, need to continually remind themselves
that they must act in the best interests of all its shareholders (or
constituents etc) and if not all, then in the best interests of the majority. It is not a forum to promote what suits you
best, but unfortunately there are directors, with vested interests, who
endeavour to push through things that aren’t in the best interests of all or
the majority. It’s a simple basic tenet,
namely that all those you represent should be treated fairly, something that
should go without saying, but I think is sometimes forgotten. </span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-73256503674821328762016-05-16T08:28:00.002+12:002016-05-16T08:28:59.544+12:00Making millions farming sheep!!!!
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Another year has gone by with sheep meat returns being
garbage. All the attention is on
dairying, but it’s the same old for all us sheep farmers, one decent year of
returns in who knows, last 15 years. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Why: exchange rate too high, oil prices low, slowing growth
in China, slow growth in Europe, oversupply of lamb in Britain, blah blah. I presume all very valid excuses for poor
returns, but what is being done different to make us less vulnerable to all
this? Despite the repetitive rhetoric, I
would suggest it could be in reality 5/8’s of FA.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As an outsider looking in and hearing quotes like “can’t
move hindquarters (not sure exact word used) in Europe, China’s demand for
forequarters and offal reduced dramatically” suggest to me that we should be
years beyond marketing and selling products in this form. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Chicken, decades ago, was essentially only sold as a whole
chicken. Today, it’s predominantly sold in
a variety of “one meal portions”; surely today whole chicken sales comprise a very
small percentage of supermarket sales. I
personally only ever buy chicken breasts, chicken mince, chicken nibbles etc in
a portion size suitable for one meal. We
are told continuously this is what the modern consumer wants, so why are we
still selling whole lamb as hindquarters (leg of lamb), forequarters
(shoulders) etc. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Surely the focus needs to be on it breaking it down into one
portion meals. Hopefully the following is already being done
by Meat Companies:</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Research and develop how to portion out a lamb
carcass into one family meal portion sizes (ultimately a different optimum
carcass weight may be required to achieve the best cuts); and</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Research various (good) ways to cook such
portions (quickly), with instructions on packaging (perhaps get Maggi on board!);
and</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Taste needs to be the number one priority, above
yield for Meat companies. I always
ensure overseas guests taste home killed mutton and every time they are stunned
as to how nice it is. A great taste will
get new repeat customers, but similarly one bad experience you won’t get them
back again! Meat companies need to reward
those farmers who supply lambs that are in good order with a bit of condition
on them over and above those that supply lambs that weigh okay but are hard
(the first lot of lambs will taste a lot better than the second). </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Meat Companies are certainly not doing
this at the moment. You need some fat on
a lamb/ mutton</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> when killed, if it is to taste good on the table;; and</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Market and package it in a way that utilises
what New Zealand is known for around the world; clean, green, mountains,
pristine water, lakes, blue skies, outdoors etc. Accordingly “New Zealand” must always feature
strongly in the brand name. Alliance’s
“Pure South” brand does little for me, but at the very least surely it should
be “Pure South New Zealand”. Similarly
package the product in a way highlighting the features that people love about
New Zealand namely mountains and lakes, use sky blue and greens on the
packaging. I don’t understand Silver
Fern Farms packaging of its meat, in my view it’s hideous it represents
nothing.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I am constricted by the size of
this column, as I certainly have more to say.
However I ask Meat companies to be transparent and publicly respond by letting
us know what, if anything, you are doing along the lines above and if not why
not.</span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-61902059503094889322015-10-07T16:46:00.004+13:002015-10-07T16:46:55.849+13:00Silver Fern Farms (“SFF”) proposed joint venture with Shanghai Maling (“SM”)
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I like many interested farmers and shareholders
recently attended a Silver Fern Farms Road show sell as to why shareholder
should vote for this joint venture (“JV”)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">To be frank I did consider the presentation to be more
of a hard sell of the proposal to shareholders as opposed to the provision of
all the facts to shareholders for consideration. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">A lot of the presentation was on how good their “Plate
to Pasture Strategy” is and will be and how much SM wanted to be part of it as
opposed to the nuts and bolts of the JV.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">As most pundits are predicting I think it will go
through, however, in an ideal world I would like to see it remain as a
cooperative for the following reasons:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">One
of the reasons share price of a cooperative is generally of little consequence
to a farmer is what we are worried is how much we are going to be paid for the
animals we supply, that is what we want to see maximised.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However the tension that comes with this
50/50 joint venture is that the cooperative half of the JV (in theory) requires
the company to maximise what it pays to farmers for the animals they supply,
while SM have an obligation to its shareholders to maximise their returns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These obligations are very different are in
direct conflict with one another: the more you pay farmers the less of course
you can return to SM’s shareholders. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Now while there is still
strong competition in the meat industry and primarily Alliance succeeds (being
the only remaining cooperative), then I don’t think there will be any major issue
as the JV will have no alternative but to pay farmers, at the very least the
same as its competitors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the risk is
years down the track if the likes of Alliance and perhaps other companies tank
and fail, SM (which SFF pointed out repeatedly at the Road show is essentially an
SOE (State owned enterprise owned by the Chinese Government)) and as such has
very deep pockets it clearly has the ability to take advantage of any financial
weakness it may perceive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The cynic in me would
suggest that is why SM have put up a lot of money for 50% i.e. equal
control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If SM put up a bit less money
for 40% ownership, then surely this would still provide all the same so called
access and capital advantages SFF has been promoting on their road show, but
the control of the JV would clearly remain with the cooperative farmer
shareholders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would imagine that SM
would never been interested in such an arrangement.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">SFF
when questioned about such a JV leading to a procurement war were quick to say
that it has no intention of doing this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However
there denials of this happening is basically only rhetoric, I am sure that the
SFF Board before the 2012 season (I think 2012) would have made similar
statements before dramatically overpaying for stock that year. Again as SM is
essentially owned by the Chinese government and accordingly has very deep
pockets it has the ability, particularly if in the future its’ competitors are
in a precarious financial position, to pay well over and wear the loss if it
means destroying its competition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
reiterate you need strong competition to ensure the farmer is getting paid the
best price for the animals they supply. This is a worst case scenario however
it is a risk associated with such a 50/50 joint venture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This would also depend on farmers, if many
decide to change suppliers from SFF, I am sure this JV will be looking to pay
what is required to get a minimum throughput at least.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think we all agree that any procurement
war that is not based what the consumer pays at the end is not good for the
industry.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">SFF
put a lot emphasis on how brilliant their plate to pasture strategy is and it’s
the only one of its kind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope it is,
but given they emphasised how:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">much they have reduced debt levels; </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">there was no plan B if shareholders did
not vote for this JV; </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">they will have real issues obtaining the
appropriate funding from their banks if this JV does not go ahead. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">All this begs the
question what are the banks concerns about this strategy and SFF’s management given
a bank before lending money has to evaluate risk etc associated with it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Surely if SFF is well
managed, has a good marketing strategy and have shown in the past years how it
has lowered its financial vulnerability (dramatically reduced debt levels) it
would be nice to know why the banks have major concerns, as clearly that’s how
a bank makes money, by lending it!</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Any
extra value the JV does succeed in obtaining in the market for their meat, only
50%<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is likely to come back to the farmer
supplier, as clearly the other 50% will be going back to SM’s
shareholders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only way all such
incremental value gains will be returned to the farmer supplier is if its
competitors are also succeeding in gaining the same increase in value; for
example presumably and hopefully Alliance being a cooperative would return all
such gains to its farmer suppliers and as such this JV would have to pay its farmer
suppliers a similar price to its competitors.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I think this will go through as many farmers will see
it as a way of getting some cash out, but also because no real alternative has
been put forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The risks outlined
above are very real, how risky is another matter, which is very dependent on
the competition. If we have good competition that is also financially strong
then the risk is minimal, but if not, who knows what our meat industry will
look like in 10 to 15 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-10034106070382543842015-08-28T10:50:00.000+12:002015-08-28T10:50:16.035+12:00Waidalerams August 2015 Newsletter
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Well it’s that time of the year again, where I write
what I call my annual newsletter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However
as most of you know there is some news in it, but it’s mostly full of my
thoughts on many different topics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do
hope you find it interesting and/or amusing, but hopefully not boring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I actually have some topics listed this year,
so it might be a bit more structured this year, who knows!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Season<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">It’s been a pretty tough summer for most of us on the
east coast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were restricted to around
50% irrigation for most of the season and stopped altogether in early march.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which may sound pathetic, but the problem is
when you rely on irrigation, you don’t have 20 tonne of silage in a pit in case
you have a drought, nor do you sow green feed crops in the spring as you pay a
lot for water and are geared to grow grass all through the summer, so not
having water made life very difficult and more so when you don’t have any<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>animals you can get rid of (because my whole
operation is essentially all stud sheep there really is no excess stock I can
get rid of when dry). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Like most of us, I suspect, my income was back massively
this last year, primarily from having to kill lambs at much lighter weights and
selling the majority as stores.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact
I was down to winter stock numbers in early march.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So income dramatically down and expenditure considerably
up (yes dairy farmers sheep farmers also had another tough year, not our first
in the last 10 years).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I fed sheep nuts
to the ewes for the first time this year to ensure I had them at good weights
for mating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My winter crops were/are
probably only around 60% yield of what I normally expect to have, which meant off
farm grazing for ewe hoggets again this winter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s been hard, but fortunately, the winter while bloody cold, has been
kind, in that there has been little wastage of feed owing to a dry winter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lack of rain is going to be an issue,
although getting a bit recently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However I am the first to acknowledge while it’s been a challenge this
last summer and winter, I know it’s a picnic compared to what farmers are
facing in North Canterbury and can only hope that there will be some relief
this spring for all of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We at least
got some rain early enough in the autumn to get some grass and crops growing
(with some urea) before winter came.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Ironically my hoggets went in to the winter as good as
they have ever done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took the second
weight of my lambs early (lw6 weight), not much more than 6 weeks after weaning
so I could cull them and get rid of the culls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Note you need to wait at least 6 weeks until after weaning your lambs to
weigh them again to ensure that both sire and dam have an equal genetic influence
(i.e. 50/50), if you do it earlier than 6 weeks after weaning, the dam’s
milking ability is the predominant factor affecting weight and distorts growth
bvs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks to some irrigation
(50%)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I managed to keep grass in front
of those I retained, fully expecting them to be going backwards from mid-march
onwards; but I took a punt and applied 50kg urea on the whole farm in mid-march
when there was no rain, and then got some rain days later with some follow up
showers, which resulted in me having grass in front of my lambs all through Autumn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I actually could stop supplementing my ewes
when mating started.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Our scanning was not brilliant this year, about on par
with last year, to be expected with the dry I guess (although my ewes were in
pretty good order when they went to the ram and a few guys told me as I had fed
sheep nuts to my ewes that I would have a great scanning, so I was hoping for a
super scan!!!). Hopefully, the Romneys will still wean close to 160 because as
I have said before lower scans seem to be offset by lower losses (within reason
of course and unusual climatic events).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lamb
survivability in the modern Romney is a strength it has over pretty much any
other breed these days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have heard
scientists say that we need to be working on reducing the difference between
scanning and weaning as high losses is something that greenies might start
highlighting in the future, so apart from the immediate economic loss to us as
farmers, this could be an issue for the marketing of our product in the future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">The most significant change this last year, is my
living arrangements. Since Mid-April of this year I have been alternating
between living one week in Christchurch and one week back down at the
farm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have done this so as I can
share care of my daughter while she finishes high school in Christchurch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not the most opportune time for this to
happen, but something that I felt I had to do for my daughter’s sake, hopefully
I am making a difference? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a result I
have employed Jake Gollan on a part time basis, who lives on the farm with his
partner Rawinia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still run the whole
operation but Jake is obviously responsible for carrying out the day to day jobs
that need to be done when I am not there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My contact details are still the same as I have an internet phone which
enables me to have the same number 036148388 where ever I am.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Obviously this arrangement is somewhat taxing
financially, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">so all of you who prefer to
give rather than receive, please feel free to pay twice as much for your rams
this year (from me of course), the sentiment will be greatly appreciated!!!</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Employing Jake has freed me up a bit and
taken away the one man band reason I haven’t been able to visit a lot of you in
the last coupler years and to be fair I have already visited a number of
clients and certainly hope to see a lot more before my sale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would add that where I live in Christchurch,
8 Everest Street, Burnside is only about 5 minutes’ drive from the airport, so
if you need a bunk for the night don’t hesitate to ask.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14pt;">Our Seventh on Farm Sale</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14pt;"> will be at <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">3pm on Wednesday 25 November 2015 this year</b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">It’s hard to believe; seventh on farm sale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A helmsman sale which I anticipate will again
be run in conjunction with AGonline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Videos
of all rams and performance data will be loaded on the internet around 3 weeks
before the sale, so for those of you who come to the sale you can sort through
them to a smaller number that might interest you on the day (quite a few
clients are doing this now) and of course for those of you who can’t make the
sale, you can still sort out, select and buy good rams without attending the
sale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Note you can bid on them from the
time they are loaded, leave auto bids etc. if you want, with the auction
finishing on the day of the sale, you can actually bid in real time against
those bidding on the day of the sale (because it’s a helmsman sale not your
traditional auction).<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">I have had the odd debate about whether you can select
rams based on a 20 second video (with rival breeders primarily I might add) and
my answer if you are stockman you can, you may have to repeat the video a few times
to check everything, but you can see pasterns, shoulders, hindquarter, colour, how
it walks etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a bit harder with Romneys,
but again I do ensure we open the wool on each ram at the beginning of the
video so you are not taking a total pot shot on wool either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I give you a weight at the time of
cataloguing to give you a guide to assess size. To know more about how the
helmsman sale works in conjunction with Agonline, you are more than welcome to
call me or take a look at my website: </span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.waidalerams.co.nz/"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: blue;">www.waidalerams.co.nz</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Please note that if you haven’t seen my sheep before and you can’t make
it on sale day, then come and have a look at my hoggets prior to the sale at
your convenience and if they are of the type etc that you want, then I
guarantee that you will be able to confidently select the rams you like based
solely on the videos and performance data loaded on the internet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">This year I probably will have a few more rams for
sale as I doubt I will take Romneys to the Fielding Ram Fair unless they drastically
change the marketing of the sale and perhaps the type of sale, as it’s just
slowly getting worse every year with less people attending, it’s getting to the
point where it would be a poor turnout for a grey power meeting. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have been supporting it out of principle
and loyalty as I think it’s bloody stupid that if you want an exceptional ram
that you have to visit every stud, you should be able to go to one sale and see
them all, but there comes a time (which I think is now) where it just makes so
much more sense to have my top rams in my own sale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Accordingly I may put up 175 rams, comprising
of approximately 80 plus Romneys, 40 Southdowns, 45 South Suffolk and 10
Lincolns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">I think this year will be the first time since having
an on farm sale that I can honestly say that all breeds will be the best line
up that I have ever put up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I obviously
only put up what I think are good rams, but previously there has always been
one breed where I think I have put up a better line up before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Romneys I am proud to say are again bloody
good, they are more consistent blockier type, not lighter in weight, but
generally a thicker deeper type of sheep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The blackies are basically by two sires; an expensive south Suffolk I
bought coupler years ago and little brick Suffolk (also two years ago) who has
bred really well; they are deep thick meaty rams, not massive but still
weighing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Southdowns’ are particular
pleasing, I think best line up for a few years, very consistent and good type,
all of them are by ram lambs I used.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On
top of that the Lincolns, while only 10 of them, are very good, ideal for
crossing over merinos to produce a half bred or indeed as a few are doing now,
crossing a merino back over the half bred then using the best progeny
extensively over their merinos. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Some significant sires of sale rams this year:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUx9CjYPxNUHPBOWWn40FRxDCp3maPk0eGL2c4J7JKTq82B6iFH7YVP8vhOAB_7YpmlNGze8AjwgbMvUcY2tNe4PF3mYIctiEa3xZcMLNbqIYOnZjmKVQWzAUUOr-RugfwclY-j3o42NZz/s1600/InverJ16-11+a001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUx9CjYPxNUHPBOWWn40FRxDCp3maPk0eGL2c4J7JKTq82B6iFH7YVP8vhOAB_7YpmlNGze8AjwgbMvUcY2tNe4PF3mYIctiEa3xZcMLNbqIYOnZjmKVQWzAUUOr-RugfwclY-j3o42NZz/s200/InverJ16-11+a001.jpg" width="200" /> 16-11</a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWy3MCDFpswvgHWfDLtfhkg8P7dkLQdhR1FDk1hctVmBYq-1E4rg10i7Apjwyea34QAXVs8GM9QJf42N1tqXuDao95_Ie_oiRkClHsDkEk-pD4hO2yIOaldNXzOaoJHwI6Hy-0RAiDtNtI/s1600/Paki+iti+56-11+best+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWy3MCDFpswvgHWfDLtfhkg8P7dkLQdhR1FDk1hctVmBYq-1E4rg10i7Apjwyea34QAXVs8GM9QJf42N1tqXuDao95_Ie_oiRkClHsDkEk-pD4hO2yIOaldNXzOaoJHwI6Hy-0RAiDtNtI/s200/Paki+iti+56-11+best+web.jpg" width="192" />56-11</a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv30P4o9ziAUdA9Xlc01p1rd-6wRVD6peXorBbAQ0GHNZo3Hv_Nv8AE9Mz1ArsikUZAPYS6agtGprwzgYe-9klgG_IcpoXFo2KCIyFqBtrTHkAP-ZAMWB99qpXqXIBZLq0Aku3xLHG6upo/s1600/222-13+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv30P4o9ziAUdA9Xlc01p1rd-6wRVD6peXorBbAQ0GHNZo3Hv_Nv8AE9Mz1ArsikUZAPYS6agtGprwzgYe-9klgG_IcpoXFo2KCIyFqBtrTHkAP-ZAMWB99qpXqXIBZLq0Aku3xLHG6upo/s200/222-13+web.jpg" width="184" /></a> 222-13 <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvsi37HKCU0bUYg4FpdY9kPqAUfwYZwMIWFpL1OysC1qqe7a3Wf1Z7RVWG_UMGJkF_6MX7xG0Kb2fvgHUZyECcFBHKe3TJhiWoax81WxKl9SesIHPRUmSTsACLAzDRzfqgUPs3-rso4h6z/s1600/Rawahi+984-12+shorn+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvsi37HKCU0bUYg4FpdY9kPqAUfwYZwMIWFpL1OysC1qqe7a3Wf1Z7RVWG_UMGJkF_6MX7xG0Kb2fvgHUZyECcFBHKe3TJhiWoax81WxKl9SesIHPRUmSTsACLAzDRzfqgUPs3-rso4h6z/s200/Rawahi+984-12+shorn+web.jpg" width="200" /></a> 984-12</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6fTVXGdxjTv7BmvcfyzJGe4CKKngmBmlBYGGMk-RGmpi9dS4X9MsJm57hYqm5BtJMvQisS0oPmlsqZPIOrxc6jXfPNyVgEXSo1MBQ66jDgJ8Fj0RnF9zM-Y_pZuzf4gpDAuOmGCPHBQZm/s1600/waidale+872-13+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6fTVXGdxjTv7BmvcfyzJGe4CKKngmBmlBYGGMk-RGmpi9dS4X9MsJm57hYqm5BtJMvQisS0oPmlsqZPIOrxc6jXfPNyVgEXSo1MBQ66jDgJ8Fj0RnF9zM-Y_pZuzf4gpDAuOmGCPHBQZm/s200/waidale+872-13+web.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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872-13 <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsgWvlNuqlULougOac98nyRJ5NQhQx-mRtXpLN5sefbA6ES1i8J7OLV_uwK2IH3EEfdBl4iGfStDMZAwfBFCEFBfvi8iPRhR8LnQSEPNyMsmCsnVqd524Klt7zJ0mhTxCAVOoSI9wJE489/s1600/Whydid+1130-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsgWvlNuqlULougOac98nyRJ5NQhQx-mRtXpLN5sefbA6ES1i8J7OLV_uwK2IH3EEfdBl4iGfStDMZAwfBFCEFBfvi8iPRhR8LnQSEPNyMsmCsnVqd524Klt7zJ0mhTxCAVOoSI9wJE489/s200/Whydid+1130-11.jpg" width="200" /></a> 1130-11</div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"></span> </div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"></span> </div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"></span> </div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">These are just few of the sires obviously; go to my
website, click Stud ram sires and 2014 for respective breeds and you can see
pictures and videos of the majority of the sires.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would point out that 984-12 above is a
total outcross that I bought for 4000 from a flock that ranks highly on SILACE (and
particularly for survivability).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was a
bit dubious as to how he would breed as he was the only good sheep I saw there
(including his keepers, I wouldn’t have used any of them), but he has bred
well: thick grunty rams with very good SIL figures across the board, the biggest
portion of Romney rams for sale are by him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>222 is my keeper, used as a lamb, the breeder of his sire advised me
last year that he has the myomax gene in his background, which means that at
some stage way back a breeder either mistakenly or intentionally used a
Texel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not that bothered as its
well back and further the horse has well and truly bolted, it won’t be long
before it’s essentially through all Romney flocks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>222 is helluva grunty ram, with spring, depth
etc; there will be some good rams by him in the sale. Note also 785-13 is Southdown
ram lamb I used, who bred particularly well, to see what he looks like you will
have to go to the website.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">On Line Sale: </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Our Helmsman sale will be run in conjunction
with Agonline for the sixth straight year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Already mentioned this above.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not
hundreds of others rushing to follow me doing this, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">primarily because there is a lot of work to do it</b> and secondly you
need to make sure your animals are ready for sale at the time of taking the
video (in my case around the end of October) because if they are not it doesn’t
matter how fancy the technology you use is, if your animals look shit on the
video, who will be interested in buying them? I was asked for my thoughts on a bull
sale, that was copying what I do a coupler years ago: firstly they used photos
not videos, which I don’t advocate, a photo can make the animal appear better
or worse than what they are, a video doesn’t, but their major issue was their
bulls weren’t ready to be sold, at least at the time of taking the photos, as
they looked bloody awful.</span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 8pt;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="mso-comment-date: 20150811T1040; mso-comment-reference: so_1;"></a><!--[if !supportAnnotations]--><a class="msocomanchor" href="file:///C:/Users/user/Documents/Sheep%20documents/Marketing/Waidalerams%20Newsletter%202015.docx" id="_anchor_1" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_1"><span style="color: blue;">[so1]</span></a><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-special-character: comment;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Again on sale day </b>there will be a
television in the corner of the woolshed whereby you can ask to view the video
of the ram you may be interested in to get a better idea as to how he may
move.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">The <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Christchurch
Ram Fair which I normally take 2 to 4 four Southdowns is on Friday 27 November
2015</b>, just two days after my on farm sale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These rams will be on display at my on farm sale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They will also be loaded on Agonline.co.nz,
so you can bid on them with the highest bid before the sale being the reserve
at the sale, no one has done this to date, but it’s an easy way to buy a good piggy
for perhaps $1200.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I support this sale
for the same reasons as I was supporting the Fielding Romney Ram Fair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I pushed for the sale being shifted earlier
so that a commercial farmer could buy a bloody good ram, but if they do miss
out they can still go and buy good rams privately, whereas in January if you
miss out, it’s a lot more difficult as they most likely have already been
sold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However the problem for me with this
sale is that I am not what I facetiously call a “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">hobby ram breeder</b>”, all my ram lambs of all breeds run in one big
mob until culling in February, then in one mob until the beginning of June,
when they go on breaks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t and won’t
feed grain to them, those on breaks get a bit of baleage and that’s it. When
the sale was in January my rams would be more or less as heavy and big as my
competitors, but in November, the last two years, they have been 10 to 15 kgs
behind, which to be frank, it doesn’t really matter how good your rams are if
they are that far behind you are not going to have a good sale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So this year my top five piggies have been
living on their own since beginning of June in what I call my hobby ram breeder
paddock, still no hard feed, but just a very small mob to see if I can compete
size wise with my competitors, we will see, they were around 90 kgs late July,
so my hobby paddock might be working.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Visiting Clients: </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I
have someone working on the farm part time, I have already been to some clients
(not as many as I would have liked) but I do expect to get to see a lot more
before the sale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I just turn up, if
you don’t want to see me and then you see my heavily sign written truck coming
up your drive, you had better hide quickly!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Amazing new developments in
Waidale’s breeding program!!!!</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"> Nothing new to advise here, at Waidale I Still:<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">don’t
drench the adult ewes (those that don’t handle it are culled, our pragmatic
worm resistance program), we are slowly reaping the rewards from this policy:
and<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">practice
an extended drench program of 6 to 8 weeks on our lambs (except for those we
cull and kill); and<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">cull
all year around for conformation constitution etc, all good breeders should be
doing this; and<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">only
use sires that look as they should and have good SIL figures: a good ram with
poor figures will not be used and similarly a poor ram with great figures will
also not be used. Too many breeders use poor rams with great figures, not at Waidale!
and<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">practice
the dying art of stockmanship which ensures our flock is of a consistent type
that reflects the type of sheep I want to breed, i.e. good on feet legs, good
jaw, good eyes, good colour, good length, good width, good depth, good hind
quarters etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(All these things affect
the future productivity of your flock, if you don’t maintain it, in the short
term not a significant impact, but long term major impact).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You do this for long enough your phenotype
will reflect the genotype, which greatly increases the likelihood that a ram
you like the look of will actually pass on the production traits you see in
that ram; and <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">have
all flocks (except the Lincolns) SIL recorded; and<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">footrot
and cold tolerance profile sires to ensure I am not using a dud ram<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(some people wrongly slag this footrot test,
it does not mean you won’t get footrot, but I know from my experience with the
Lincolns that it has merit, straight Whydid Lincolns rarely profile anything
but the highest i.e. 1.1 and they are very rarely lame.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are also are on a farm that would have
more footrot challenge than most, and accordingly we have been culling all the
time for years on this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You need a
footrot challenge to ensure you are breeding sheep that have some resistance to
it; and<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">eye
muscle scan all rams I keep through the winter; and<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">collect
viascan data on all culled lambs killed; and<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">cull
all Romney ewes that have two singles in a row; and<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">mate
our ewe hoggets for 18 days only; and<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">tag
all lambs at birth to ensure accurate pedigrees which in turn promotes greater
accuracy in SIL figures; and<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">wean
in excess of 150% with the Romneys, more like 160 these days, almost
irrespective of what they scan; and<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">have
an honest upfront attitude.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I pride
myself on my directness and my honesty; and<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">have
an extensive website </span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.waidalerams.co.nz/"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: blue;">www.waidalerams.co.nz</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">, which details all of the above and more;
it’s worth a look.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Beef and Lamb Genetics Form
in Napier<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">I attended this in the last week of July.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think a lot of what they are doing is of
value, so long as it’s tempered with some good stockmanship. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do think it’s better to have this entity
than not and as such I would encourage everyone to vote for its continuance. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You may have seen the recent feature on me in
the New Zealand Farmer, the Press (it must have been a slow news’ week as it
apparently was everywhere) but my main message was clearly the importance of
stockmanship. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Some significant issues that came out of the forum:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Adult weight index, DPA<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">There was massive debate at this forum about weighing
adult sheep to get a breeding value, and the importance of condition scoring
ewes at the time of weighing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Condition
scoring is required to differentiate between for an example a skinny slab sided
composite ewe of 65kg (note I am taking the piss here, apparently there is the
odd skinny slab sided Romney ewe around as well) and a fat grunty meaty Romney
ewe of 65kg, one you want and of course one you don’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem I have with such a breeding
value is that I consider it largely redundant for a good stockman as I can look
at a sheep and tell you if it’s going to leave big slab sided mongrels or little
wee buggers etc. My eye is as accurate if not more so and probably more
importantly my eye is more timely as even if you collate all such data it’s
only when you have an adult progeny on the ground of the sire ram that you can
have confidence in the breeding values.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">It seems many breeders are looking for SIL to solve
everything, but personally I would sooner see Beef and Lamb concentrate on
those things I cannot see, for example fertility (nlbbv) and survival (surbv),
these are traits that I can’t look at a sheep and go yes fertile etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Zoetis<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Zoetis were there trying to peddle the sheep 5k, and
shepherd plus etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The technology is in
theory good, but economically it just doesn’t stack up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It costs me about 750 dollars to tag and
record my lambs (ignoring labour), but if I DNA tested my ewes, my sires,
electronically tagged my progeny and of course DNA tested my lambs, I worked
out I would have a bill of around 59000 (admittedly about 23000 would be one
off as once ewes done once) but still a helluva cost as you can see.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Zoetis also used an example of testing a 120 rams, of
which the top 20, after being sheep 5k tested, changed significantly and they said
based on this example there was a gain of $40000, I think, in production.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this is crap as I am sure that at least
half of those top 20, if not more, would quite simply not be good enough to use
in my flock as they would have faults that I wouldn’t bring into my flock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reality at home is I might have 5 or 6
ram lambs I think are good enough to use (that’s all) in the stud.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again as I said last year I see the benefit
of sheep 5k (apart from marketing which is how most use it) is to test the few
I want to use to make sure there isn’t something that is bad, for example one
has piss poor fertility, then I wouldn’t use the ram, but the problem is still
the time it takes to get results.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
still around 6 weeks which is quite simply too slow to be of any value as I
have a window of about 2 weeks max between selection and mating: to select the lambs
you want to use in January would mean I am often not using the best lambs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They assured me they are working on reducing
the turnaround time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">We </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">continue to provide samples of all Romney
sires to Agresearch which means that we will be well connected when I
eventually do use sheep 5K to get genomic breeding values (the connectivity
improves accuracy).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is one breeder
I know of who uses every DNA test under the sun but if it wasn’t for all his
other off farm businesses, his sheep farm would in my view go broke, and
breeding good rams requires much more than DNA testing to breed good sheep (Yes
stockmanship!!!!).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However if there is a
philanthropist out there (or collectively a group) who would like to donate say
$70000 a year to my stud operation to utilise all the science, then I am more
than happy to accept it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">SIL meat index DPM<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Again this index is still a waste of time, unless you
are killing around 15 to 20 cull lambs of all sires you use through Alliance and
getting the individual viascan results being fed into SIL.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Firstly very few do this, with droughts last
year, I didn’t even bother doing it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Secondly as I learnt last year no across flock reports at present
incorporate this data, as there is so little of it and SIL software doesn’t presently
have the capability to do it in SILACE run.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Accordingly this index is very reliant on an eye muscle scan which is
only an indication of eye muscle not the meat yield of the whole sheep and if
no eye muscle reading, it extrapolates and predicts based on weaning weights
etc, accordingly it becomes so bloody unreliable as to whether a high DPM means
meat or not, that it’s a joke.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Heterosis (Hybrid vigour)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">They intend to make SILACE the sole across flock
report, which will incorporate viascan data in the future and they are going to
eliminate those effects that are attributable to hybrid vigour as opposed to
superior genetics, which it does not at present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any composite or cross bred in SILACE is
unfairly advantaged over a purebred as there a significant productivity gains
that are solely due to Hybrid Vigour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This adjustment is very important as they propose that the only across
flock report in the future will be a SILACE across all breeds, cross breeds etc.
At present you can get across flock reports within breeds, but they intend to
do away with this.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Condition Scoring<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Trevor cook gave a demonstration and talk on
this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I always cull gutless and skinny
ewes, but mostly on eye. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I haven’t
handled all ewes to condition score them on a scale of 1 to 5, but after
listening to this I think it’s probably one of the most practical and easy
gains we can make in lambing percentage, by simply ensuring all ewes are a
condition score of 3 or more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t
remember the exact percentage gain, but it’s significant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a ewe Body Condition Scoring
handbook on beef and lamb website that sets it all out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s certainly something I will put more
focus on.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Meat Industry:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing
much is happening, although I am looking forward to these special shareholders
meeting of Alliance and Silver Fern Farms to discuss the merits or otherwise of
a merger, which hopefully will provide us with the transparency that I have
been banging on about for a while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
heard Keith Cooper recently, now he has stepped down, and the thing that
resonated most with me is if you adhere to the cooperative model and all the
principles associated with it (which arguably aren’t adhered to at the moment),
then it simply doesn’t make any sense to have two cooperatives as logically one
should achieve the same for all its shareholders.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">I intend to put myself up as a candidate for the one
of the upcoming vacancies on the Alliance Board this year. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have in the past considered doing this but
wasn’t sure I would have the time to do it (being a one man band with the farm)
but ironically now owing to my change in living circumstances and that I have
now quit the Romney Council, I do have the time to do this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would like to think that someone like me
can add value as I am passionate sheep breeder, I am well educated, (practised
as a lawyer for 6 years, not sure if this is positive or not, depend on who you
are I guess) but I think my strongest attribute is my ability to digest what I
am being told quickly and then not being afraid to question the rationale
behind it to ensure what is being done is the right thing (Those of you who
know me would appreciate I have an opinion on most things and fairly direct in
putting across if need be).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am
certainly not doing this as a career move, if I don’t think I am doing any
good, I would quit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do think that if
I got elected (which is the biggest hurdle in my plan) that I stand for fairness
and equity to all shareholders of a cooperative (i.e. no preferential groups) and
obviously transparency as to why things are done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not putting myself forward as pro or
anti merger, but I am someone with an open mind who considers it important that
shareholders are kept informed of what are the obstacles to a merger or why it
doesn’t make sense to or what needs to happen for a merger or something else to
occur.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I feel this lack of accountability and
transparency is one of the reasons why no progress is made as we feel there is
always some hidden agenda behind what we are being told.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Wool: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Wool levy failed last year, but I still make money out of growing good
quality wool off my Romneys irrespective of that levy, so if you are not then I
am afraid you certainly haven’t got the right sheep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unless you are not shearing at all, then why
not grow a good dual purpose sheep that produces meat and decent nett cheque
for wool after shearing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The falling
exchange will hopefully help our cause further.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">I have heard that Landcorp have negotiated a deal with
the Merino Company whereby they getting something like a 25 cent premium for
their crossbred wool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know this
for a fact but a wool broker has confirmed that they do have some deal like
this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Firstly this sort of deal offends
my sense of fairness and equity: how can a company provide a premium to one
major player for a product that I can assure you that won’t be any better than
others who supply them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To do this they
are either making a loss on the Landcorp wool or more likely they are
underpaying their other suppliers, i.e. one supplier is subsidising the
other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I sold my wool to the Merino Company
and found this out, I would tell them to stick their company where the sun
don’t shine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Incidentally a wool broker has also told me that while
they do get a premium, the premium is well and truly offset by the marketing
charges they require you to pay, so giveth with one hand but taketh away with
the other, if this is correct then perhaps they are not actually better off. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Some say why don’t we get together and do the
same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It almost sounds like forming a
cooperative doesn’t it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Firstly, I think
it’s wrong to pay a premium for a product that is no different to another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There needs to be something you are paying
for, a genuine quality differential or some back story perhaps that allows you
to get more money for the product.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Secondly I am not an advocate of the “if you can’t beat them join them”
attitude, I would sooner campaign against the unjustness and discourage farmers
from supplying the company in question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thirdly it’s a lot harder to get many different farmers to come together
and supply an entity than for one entity like Landcorp to issue a directive to
be complied with as unfortunately there will always be farmers who waiver or
back out or don’t supply what is requested etc: accordingly it’s not as easy as
it sounds to do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Sorting up ewes so only the
best are being bred for replacements.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Apart from buying bloody good rams off me for a
fortune, this is one of the quickest and most cost effective ways of improving
the quality of your flock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Basically
you need to work out how many ewes you need to put to a Romney (or whatever
breed is your capital flock) to give you the required number of ewe lambs you
need to go back into the flock as replacements (allowing for a reasonable
culling percentage say 50%), the rest you simply put to a terminal sire so
there is no chance of keeping ewe lambs out of those inferior ewes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I assure you that doing this for a few years
will reap dividends as the quickest way to improve overall production is
getting rid of the rubbish.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">You simply need to go through your ewes prior to
mating to sort them into the two mobs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
you are in a cross breeding regime such as Romdales, then this is also the time
to sort those ewes that look more like a Romney and put a Perendale across them
and those that look like a Perendale and put a Romney across them, (you get all
the hybrid vigour this way, not the watered down version of a Romdale, plus you
can source true genetics in terms of breeding values not figures that may have
been distorted by hybrid vigour).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Personally I doubt there is a Coopdale, Perendale
or Composite flock that wouldn’t benefit from at least one cross of a good Romney
every few years (if not more often).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">For clients who buy all their rams off me I am more
than happy to come and assist you to do this, we just need to organise a time
well in advance so that I can indeed do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For non-clients I am more than happy to do it, subject to time
constraints, but I would expect to be remunerated for my time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Please note I am not saying you need me to do
it, I am just offering my services if you want. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you wanted you could take it further and
select an elite mob of ewes, paying top dollar for a few good rams (preferably
from me) to improve your flock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Note I won’t be culling your ewes and rams and
then picking rams for you from some breeder who is actually paying that person
commission for selling his rams (this does happen)!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Stockmanship Video</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">For a few years now this has been a goal of mine to
create a generic video (i.e. not breed specific) from start (jaw undershot and
overshot etc) right through to back pasterns and tail settings etc and
obviously explaining why it’s important.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I feel that it would be about two hours in length, but could be
compartmentalised into say 15 minute segments (so people don’t fall asleep,
like you are now perhaps doing just reading about it), with differing
commentary perhaps for the age groups it’s being played to (for example high
school kids through to university students).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I believe practical workshops could be run in conjunction with use of
this as a teaching video.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On top of this
simple academic tests could be created and given after the showing of such a
video.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">I think the key to doing this properly is to actually
have a sheep that shows how an animal should look like and a sheep that shows
how it should not look like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other
words you need a sheep that has for example, good teeth; is not overshot or
undershot or light jawed etc, but similarly you need a sheep that demonstrates
each of these faults as well so someone can actually see what this looks like
and not simply rely on some commentary to understand it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">If this is done properly, it’s something that can be
of value for many years to come and something that could be incorporated into
high school Ag programmes and more importantly incorporated as part of the
syllabus of all Ag based commerce and/or science degrees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By its inclusion in such degrees I believe
not only will it be an aid in teaching people about how an animal should look,
but it will reinforce the importance of stockmanship in being a good sheep
farmer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would argue now that as
stockmanship is not part of such degrees many graduates come out who don’t know
and more importantly don’t think stockmanship is important, being part of the
degree would give it credibility.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">I have had a various communications with Scott
Champion the CEO of Beef and Lamb who is essentially behind it, but at the
moment its quite circular as to how much it will cost to do (which is difficult
to work out when hasn’t been done before).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I believe there will be a lot of filming by the time you go through
finding sheep with good traits but more importantly good examples of the bad
traits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s this point that brings me
to seek assistance: firstly I believe we need a big mob of ewe hoggets (ideally
thousands) which have had little culling as lambs, so as we can go through them
to find good examples of all faults, so if anyone would like to volunteer their
flock for this or knows someone who may be able to help, I would greatly
appreciate the assistance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Secondly I
believe this is a resource that will be around for a long time, so there is a
real opportunity for one off naming rights for an entity that is prepared to
put the money up to do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Accordingly
if you know anyone who may be interested in such an opportunity I would greatly
appreciate being put in contact with the appropriate person.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Stock Companies Commission<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">This is something that is starting to bug a few of
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I pay 9% commission for my ram sale
and I know one of the reasons you pay commission is certainty of payment so I
am not the one out of pocket if someone doesn’t pay, but I do think that 9%
these days is too bloody high.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have a
very good local agent who does a lot in terms of organising sale etc and I am
very grateful for that as without him the sale wouldn’t happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However I do the rest, catalogue,
newsletters, mailing, preparation for the sale. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">We normally divide up my database of farmers with the
idea that lists are giving to local stock agents to ring the farmers in their
area and simply ask if they would like a lift to my sale (I don’t want a hard
sell at all, just an offer to be picked up, taken to sale and returned), you
obviously could have a few beers in the knowledge you weren’t driving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A mate of mine told me at last year’s sale as
all the agents were coming in, “they should have car pooled” as all arriving in
own car with no one in it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">What I would like to find out if I am living in a
dream world or not as I think the majority of farmers, with a bit of notice
would gratefully accept such an offer. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
personally don’t think many agents are making such an offer as requested.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Accordingly I would appreciate it if you could
take the time to send me an email to </span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="mailto:ike@waidalerams.co.nz"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: blue;">ike@waidalerams.co.nz</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"> to say whether you would accept such an
offer or not from your agent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can
ring me if you prefer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Please be
reassured that this is not smart arse marketing gimmick, I really want to know
because if it’s as I think, then I will be having a very pointed discussion
about what I expect for the commission I am paying.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>I know it’s not like bulls
where the money is significantly higher, but surely it’s all part of the
service an agent provides to get your lambs, steers etc.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Even the stock standard commission of 6% should be
less these days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know in our area
there are stock and station agents selling lambs at on farm sales for
considerably less than 6%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Landcorp are
probably using their size to demand less commission, the bigger you are
logically the easier it is to negotiate a reduction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In any event it won’t change unless we all as
farmers start putting the heat on the companies and voting with our feet,
always an action that gets the most attention.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">My Cull Stud Romney Ewe Lambs</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
do have surplus ewe lambs for sale. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
client takes about 90 every year, didn’t last year because of the drought, so
if there is anyone out there who is interested in purchasing a 150 or so good
ewe lambs for $20 more than my average kill price of lambs for the season, then
contact me as soon as possible, first in first served.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Science and cross breeding</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have
given my views on a number of issues over the years including myomax, carla
saliva test, sheep 5k and 50k, footrot test,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>worm star, CT Scanning, SIL Ace index, cross breeding and closed flocks
among other things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For those of you who
have not received a newsletter from me before, simply go to my website </span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.waidalerams.co.nz/"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: blue;">www.waidalerams.co.nz</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>click on Newsletters in the menu and then open up the 2012 Newsletter
(mostly), I think you will find it interesting reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Catalogues will be posted out first week of November
for my on farm sale to be held at 3pm on Wednesday 25 November 2015.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All rams offered and any going to Fielding
(unlikely) or Piggies going to Christchurch will be uploaded at </span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.agonline.co.nz/"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: blue;">www.agonline.co.nz</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>around this same time (about 3 weeks before the sale): all you will have
to do is go to that site and click on the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Waidalerams
sale</b> icons to get there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">If anyone has any questions about anything I have
written please feel free to contact me, I welcome the discussion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if I don’t see you before, I look forward
to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">an agent bringing you to my sale</b> or
under your own steam and having one or more beers with you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570959161248374155.post-22802441863389033822015-05-16T13:54:00.000+12:002015-05-16T13:54:04.704+12:00Rural Supply Coops-relevancy to today’s farmer?
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
I recently read an article about
the demise of rural supply cooperatives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Neal Shaw, the CEO of Ashburton Trading Society said “I would go so far
as to say it is essentially the issue of young farmers coming through and
lacking the understanding of why co-ops were formed”</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<o:p> </o:p>This may be true to a point in
that there may be farmers out there who don’t understand why cooperatives were
formed, but I would argue that the way a lot of rural cooperatives are run these
days its not that easy to simply understand why the cooperative was started in
the first place.</div>
<br />
Firstly, generally rural trading
cooperatives were formed to create buying power:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a lot of farmers become shareholders of the
cooperative which in turn allowed that entity to use its bulk buying power to
secure the product as cheap as it possibly can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
Accordingly the advantage of
joining the cooperative was that you were purchasing the product from your
cooperative that had sourced it as cheap as it possibly could and in all
likelihood you wouldn’t be able to buy yourself individually cheaper anywhere
else. <br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
But is that the case today?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would say no way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rural trading cooperative that I am a
member of often isn’t and hasn’t been for a number of years the cheapest place
to purchase whatever I am buying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it
is a significant purchase I do shop around; you have to otherwise I would waste
a lot of money buying it from my cooperative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Is this right, of course its not.</div>
<br />
The question is why is this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Personally I am so sick of reward
schemes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t want to accumulate
rewards to buy goods I really don’t need or are simply buying to get rid of the
rewards before they expire, its gimmicky crap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sell everything in the store at the lowest
possible price (which by the very nature of a cooperative, it should not be
cheaper anywhere else, except perhaps another cooperative that is more
efficiently run) and forget the stupid rewards, this to me is the basic tenet
of why a cooperative was set up (and incidentally I think also one of the
reasons why vet clubs were started, but that’s another story).<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
The second reason I have also
already alluded to is how efficiently it is run.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again my coop owns premises all over the
place; always seem to have loads of staff and seemingly carries a load of
product which traditionally is considered more the domain of the “townie” as
opposed to that of the farmer (i.e. one could argue not focused solely<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on its core demographic)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now I don’t know if the cooperative I am member
of is efficiently run or not (I hope so), but given that they continually push
their rewards schemes, do always seem to have a lot of staff around, own a lot
of buildings etc and the clincher being <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">they
don’t sell goods cheaper than anywhere else I can buy them,</b> then isn’t any
wonder why there are farmers who question the relevance today of a rural
trading cooperative and as such probably can’t understand why they were formed
in the first place.</div>
Ike Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03509626894510044232noreply@blogger.com0