Rural round-up: Leasing for sustainability; weed invasion; drought

Here is a selection of current stories from agridata.co.nz Leasing operation makes simple sustainable farm Paul Kane can’t afford to be sentimental. The Hawea Flat farmer lives in the real world, where servicing a substantial mortgage on his 690ha Grandview property, getting a start in farming and still having a lifestyle, are priorities reports The ODT. The result is that Mr Kane does not own an animal, does not require large capital outlay, but instead runs what, on the surface, appears to be as complex business of leasing out land for cropping, grazing dairy cows and dairy young stock. “I am focused on finding the highest and best land use option to service my debt.” His is a story of a young man taking a different approach to getting settled on the land, and given his financial burden, he has to ensure his risk is kept as low as possible. Read the rest of this entry » Invasive pasture weed spreading quickly Yellow bristle grass, a highly invasive pasture weed with no effective controls and a major financial impact, is appearing in Taranaki dairy paddocks. It’s a pest plant horror story and so far there’s little anyone can do about it, other than try intensive pasture renovation over three seasons reports the Taranaki Daily. Farmers in the Waikato, where YBG is now rampant, say it’s costing them $1,100 a hectare in lost production and it just keeps getting worse. Setaria pumila is a common roadside grass that has jumped the fence and gone berserk. It may also have come in with imported hay, silage, or balage. It’s widespread in Northland and the Bay of Plenty. Now Taranaki farmers are seeing it in their pastures. Some finding it on their farms are scared to talk about it because they are worried it will discourage potential sharemilkers. Read the rest of this entry » Drought hurting farm production NZ farmers will have less to sell than usual this autumn as several regions slide into drought, creating a “weak tail” to the main primary production season, says a leading rural bank. “Seasonal conditions have pulled the end of the season forward for North Island suppliers, as soils dried out in March,” Rabobank says in its Agribusiness report. “South Island producers have continued to fare better, with drier East Coast conditions offset by the availability of irrigation water, and favourable conditions.” The north and east of the North Island, and parts of Canterbury and Otago were extremely dry in March, with Auckland experiencing a record low rainfall for the month. It was also dry over the remainder of the North Island and Nelson, but Fiordland and parts of Southland received around 120 percent of their normal rainfall. Read the rest of this entry » For up-to-date schedule and saleyard prices, see - Bulls - Steers - Lamb - Wool - Dairy cows - Stags