Book: Protecting Paradise

Real surprise here.
Fed Farmers promoted this book a while back on the weekly RamBull newsletter. Its a late 2016 print, so the Feds were right out of the blocks on it.
I got it because I thought, as a farmer, I had a responsibility to be as boned up on pest control as I could, seeing as we've had a career long involvement in keeping our cattle herds free of Tb, and introduced possum pest being cited as the chief disease vector. 
What I thought was going to be a rather dry dissertation on the pros and cons of 1080 use turned out to be more..., much, much more, in fact one of my most interesting reads of the last 12 months.
The author devotes the first chapters to a run-down on the state, or better described as, plight, of NZ's wildlife. We usually give cursory recognition to this state of affairs when mentioned in the Press, but here's page after page quietly ramming the point home. I couldn't say I'd do a definite number on my opinion and where it might have been swayed to, more it left me with a sadness about where we are right now.
So, what are we going to do about it.
Then there's a big section on 1080, the history of its use, about the extraordinary lengths DOC and researchers have had to go to satisfy a hostile public about its efficacy, and comparative toxicity, and the development of safest forms of deployment.
And here's where the book got really interesting, discussing the philosphy of disposition, argument, dissent, discontent... whatever, Hansford's done a great job of presenting how an argument looks from both sides, all sides actually, but really how difficult it is, with the best science behind your argument, how the opposition can use it against you without a shred of scientific research data of their own.
The proposition that we all argue an issue from the basis of our own perspective is well travelled in the book, and I have to say my own bias was tested when Hansford likened the 1080 debate to that of climate change. Like with disease and pest control, as a farmer I have to keep a weather eye on most things, climate change included. I'm probably classifiable in the "denier" side of fence-sitter on that, but I'd strongly disagree from my position of all-sectors polling rural realism, that climate deniers were as vociferous as the 1080 dissenters, in fact I'd give the climate bad-mouthing award to the climate activists.
However, Hansford should be pleased I'll henceforth side with DOC's use of aerial 1080 plans, and will join the plea for better funding for DOC by Govt.

For the last 5 years or so this farm has been part of a much larger district wide brodifacoum bait station program run by the regional council. Initially, I didnt like the signage at the gate that went with it, like the place was under quarantine, but I've relented big time.
Scenes like the plover family on the right are regular now. Year before last we had a family of 13 quail hatch, grow and disperse from under a hedge. Haven't seen a possum for 3 years, haven't had rats in my garage, stable, or around the dog kennels for a couple years either. Found a skink from under my front deck, haven't seen one since I was a kid. Tui's regularly gong away in the trees round the house.
I don't think the Predator Free NZ vision is at all nuts, even if only part achieved we'll see a big difference.

Dave Hansford's book is an extraordinarily well written exposition on what could have been a difficult subject. Heck, there's even a 30 page bibliography/citations.
I think its a triumph in the use of modern English.
Thankyou Dave, and thanks Fed Farmers for putting it on the reader list

Movie: Rams

Worth a look by all livestock breeders, cattle or sheep.
This movie, set in Iceland, tells the story of how a farm animal disease epidemic can affect us on a personal level.
There's a few bloopers in here that'll go right over the head of the average townie, but by and large its a close enough to the bone depiction of what we might have to face if border protection systems fail us, and....., how some of us might react.
She's a pretty tough environment to farm in up there, magnificent landscape nevertheless.
So were the sheep, must look up the breed, sort of like a long-woolled Texel with horns.
(Actually, they're Icelandic Sheep!)
Salute to the sheep-breeders of Iceland!

FLOOD!!!

Here we go again......
This is the view at daybreak, Jun 21st, from the upstairs window.
The valley road follows the line of trees running left to right, and the river's supposed to be in the trees at the back.
This is 2-3' below flood peak we reckon, down in front of us the water's 6' deep, and over at the road, about a foot. It'll need to go down another couple feet before we can get out, that'll be in the 6 ton 4wd truck.
All the vehicles are up here, except for the tractor and bulldozer, which should be high enough not to get covered.
I left 4 horses in the paddock behind the poplars, left background, they would have spent the night up to their bellies. About mid-day I saw them paddling out, relieved to see they were still there. Plus my two herd bulls which must have swum in from two paddocks away.
Subsequent to this, we've confirmed the flood height's about a foot lower than 2004.
Every flood's different, this one roared all night. The whole district including the up-country hills had 150mm in 48 hours, on top of 150mm already recorded since the beginning of the month.
This is the 4th in 10 years, shifting stock and equipment followed the plan, we had a days warning from Horizons very good river level forecast system.
When the water recedes there's going to be another foot of wet silt over probably 3/4's of the flats, pretty disheartening after all the pasture restoration since the 2013 go.
My sister and her family's been chased out of their house again, they'll be up here with me a turn till their house dries out.
Several homes in the valley, same situation.
I guess if you live in a flood plain you have to expect some trauma, I know my father only had one like this around 1938, and its incredible I farmed 40 years flood free, to get to this.

Labour's Monetary Policy

The general election's only a few months away, last week the Opposition Labour Party announced some of its plans for control of the economy (inflation, house prices, etc), main part of policy being, universal compulsory superannuation, with a sliding % contribution determined according to inflationary pressure.
Up till now that's been handled by the Reserve Bank adjusting from time to time, the OCR (Official Cash Rate), which flows through to the trading banks adjusting their interest rates, thereby suppressing or easing spending pressures.
Labour claim it would be better for us to be paying the equivalent of an interest rate rise into our own super funds than to the banks as higher interest, and in turn the Reserve Bank would leave the OCR alone, therefore making our NZD less attractive and keeping the exchange rate down, to the benefit of exporters.
Most comment in the press has been favorable so far with the main argument against being that the major reason for those not in a super scheme already is that they cant afford to, and being required to would be a hardship.
My initial reaction was that it'd be a shots eye employers would be mugged into making up the shortfall in any case, on top of, and including, the employers contribution, when already we're facing the minimum living wage argument.
Really, the economy's all about confidence, or otherwise, in spending/investment patterns.
I dont know how other employers feel about the current situation, but I'm tentatively moving back into employing after five or so years working the farm solo. Any rocking of the economic boat now is depressing, just when I'm starting to see the benefits of having another good pair of hands around the place.
Other misgivings I've got about moves around super schemes:
- Australia's often touted as a shining example with its compulsory super, but you couldnt say its been any benefit to that country's balance of payments or house prices, even with their capital gains tax, which incidentally Labour include (a move into capital gains taxing here) as part of this latest package
- Generally, I dont believe in anything other than own choice for investment decisions, lessons after the investment house decisions of the last recession are easily forgotten, and futhermore, I wouldnt entrust any investment of mine to government control. I opted not to be in Kiwi-Saver. The best investment any of us could make is into debt reduction, and trying saving while you run any debt is plain nuts.
- Neither do I think any policy wonks are capable of pulling the economy's levers at the right time, and for right reason
- Every action has a counter-effect. Taking a few dollars out of wage packets will probably increase demand for welfare expenditure. Keeping interest rates down depressess returns for those who have saved in, and rely some on bank deposits for their fixed income
- Just who's going to benefit here? People on benefits dont have an "employer", so they wont get an employers contribution, but I guess us general taxpayers will stump that up somehow. The government tops up contributions to those who are making $20 weekly Kiwi-savings by a further $500, so much like Working for Families, its a middle class tax grab/benefit. Just the effect the left-wing want I guess.

Give Labour points for trying I guess......
but I dont think it'll cut it.
One letter to the editor in yesterday's Dom suggested it would be better for the super surcharge to be directed into the saver's own mortgage principal, rather than into Kiwi-Saver, where it will only be fueling share-market prices.
The NZ share-market does suffer from being too small, and again the Labour/Greens opposition to the Govt floats of 49% of power generators defies logic.
And lastly, we've had a low OCR for a few years now but its done nothing to lower our exchange rate, there are other forces at play outside of the range of our internal economy, mainly the stability of the NZD's appeal to international investors.

Robust economies are all about "confidence".
The further governments keep their hands off the levers the better, far as I'm concerned.

Massey University 50th Anniversary

Tiritea House, the old VC's residence

Nostalgia day today. This year marks 50 since Massey changed from an agricultural college, to a university, celebrations have been going a week, and my decade went through today.
Just a couple of my old class-mates turned up, but a distinct collegial familiarity with all the other faces, ancient recognition from the old campus, hostel, or rugby field, or careers in tandem crossing years and fields of endeavour.
Naturally, conversations lubricated broached with the more infamous and hilarious exploits of university student-hood. Pre-varsity at the time, I had the view held by wider society of uni students looked on with some disdain, long-haired protesters, but I quickly came to admire the absolute creativity and sheer audacity of some of the pranks and pranksters here.
I guess to open reflection at this level might seem hardly appropriate, but its this immersion in the creative melting pot that is a university that made me, and the critical thinking path I think, or hope, I've taken in the business of life and living. And my contribution to humanity a pretty humble one compared with those of the shoulders rubbed today.
It was great to catch up with farm management lecturer, Peter MacGillivray, naming me in one, with his fantastic memory recall. No one lecturer made so big an impression on critical thinking with so few notes, all our dip-ag class agreed. He's been a great lifetime servant of Massey.
TS Chang provided the other trigger, sheep performance research, that launched my sheep and beef breeding interest and career.
Less than 1000 students back then, 30,000 today.
Very pleased to hear that university planning includes restoration to original of Tiritea House, the Main Science building and the Refectory as part of earthquake upgrading. A couple of dippies drove a mini and a fiat round the ground floor corridor of Main, passing at the front vestibule, and the Refec was the scene of many a Sunday bun-fight and table run.
But I do remember my lecturers with just as great finity as I do the hallowed halls, MacGillivray, Small, Chang, Bowler, Jacques, Rees, Meek, Regnault, Baker, and sadly, the face but not the name, of the economics/accountancy man, (Ward?), who put me on the path to vital cashflow/budgetry skill.

Looking across the Common to the Refectory and Pink on the right

Old Hostel, where I lived for the year, (125 quid for the year it cost), is gone now, used to be to the left of this pic. Its reputed one student went a whole year without underpants, every week or so he'd flog another pair off the clothesline. Another character rolled his station-wagon on the access road with the hostel beer order aboard, 18 flagons-worth running in a stream down the hill to the hostel entrance. And when the Mog girls hi-jacked and apple-pied our laundry basket, my pillow slip got a nice lip-stick kiss mark on it, I day-dreamt it was that pretty little Johnson blondie did it, lol.

More on the Quad Bike Issue

Another child's lost it's life in a quad accident, 6 year old, rolled into a ditch and pinned under the machine, had a helmet on but that's no protection against water, and the weight of a quad on a small body.
Public reaction's reached a crescendo with one recent letter to the editor of the DomPost stridently advocating policing and fining of farmers not obeying OSH recommendations, that should be made into law, and policed whatsmore.
Just how he thinks that's going to happen worries me as a land-owner. Are police going to run spy drones over farmland or what?
If this is an indication of Wellington sentiment, then Prime Minister John Key only got it half right when he said, in a misquoted context, Wellington was dying. I'd say its already brain-dead, particularly when you add into account the ongoing NIMBY saga's of resistance to any change, the Basin Over-pass, the Kapiti Expressway, and the preference to impose on one farmer's life with the Transmission Gully project instead of the cheaper re-location option of the 75 or so householders to upgrade the existing highway route.
Fortunately, a voice of reason appeared on Friday in another letter to the editor, from none other than the Operations General Manager, Work Safe NZ, who reiterated the four principles; always wear a helmet, choose the right vehicle for the job, be trained and experienced enough for the task, and no kids allowed.
Although it conflicts statistically with a coroner investigating 5 quad related deaths, she also said there was only one quad related workplace death in 2013, and the message was getting through.
Alleluia.....
People like Gerry Cuneen who advocate getting tough on farmers need to realise just how severely bureaucratic attitudes affect employment, I won't employ people, full-stop, if I'm to be responsible for every foible of their character.
And as for kids on quads, I got sick to death years ago, of visiting townies turning up here with undisciplined kids whose ingrained belief was that they could have a burn around on somebody else's $15,000 machine, then look at me like I'm some sort of shit when I wouldn't refill the fuel tank for them.
Those days are long past.
I saw a statistic some time ago, that 45% of farm related bike accidents were actually ocurred by visitors.
Thankyou for your comment Work Safe Ona de Rooy.
I've had bikes on this place since 1965, I dont wear a helmet all the time, but I always do if the task might eventually include risk.
I do service and maintain my machinery regularly, and generally look after them, always have.
I have a range of machines to select for different jobs.
I rarely let anyone else drive or passenger on them.
My father was an ag contractor/farmer, an artisan at his ag work, and a stickler for looking after machinery.
That's my grounding, he put me in control of a tractor in my early teens after riding with him since primary school age. I got severely reprimanded for the few minor accidents I had, and touch wood, have never had an incident of import since, mainly due to never exceeding around 20kph, I think.
I've noted recently, OSH personnel saying theyre targeting older farmers for their arrogance on this point, and that we're just as likely to be involved in serious incidents.
I'd say that's more a quirk of the farmer demographic being loaded to the over 50's age group end.
I'm just waiting for the day OSH turn up here to give me the once over, probably female, half my age, getting paid twice what I make off my humble "square", and telling me how to suck eggs.
But I hope its Ona de Rooy, or someone she's trained to be as realistic.
Just read that 8 people died last year in bicycle accidents on the road. I wonder if the Wellington PC police are going to start preventative surveillance on townies.
So far as us rural folk are concerned it would be far simpler to deny ACC payout on any claim where breach of the 4 quad safety rules was evident.
In the meantime, we should do a lot better at being safe on quads, not so much to avoid personal injury, but simply to avoid the attention getting focussed on us by, and any further growth of, the PC police.

Flood Update

Well, some good soul did come and re-join the boundary fence where it was cut to allow up-valley traffic around a flood-blocked section of road, nice professional job too, so thanks whoever.

Another 50 acres increased 6" asl

Now the water's gone, I see there's about 50 acres out of action, covered in muddy silt. I figure it'll take till end November to dry out, half of it will crack and let the grass through, and depending if it gets dry enough, will probably drill a summer brassica into whatever the grass dosent get its way through.
Once again, the village 2 km down the road suffered. Main part of the problem there is the on ramp to the new highway bridge across the river built in the 60's, now dams the free passage of water in a way it never did. That's engineers again for you, every time something substantial gets built, there's always a consequence down the line.

SH3 traffic waiting to negotiate the one-way dam-bank

What the Whangaehu/SH3 intersection really needs is a 2 lane underpass under SH3, which will allow the water to keep going on its way.
Also, the intersection will be safer for cross and inter-valley traffic with appropriate on and off-ramps.
But what's the opinion of a humble resident farmer worth in the face of a qualified engineer?
In the words of our famous beer, Yeah right.......

Flood

Wont be mustering to the yards from that direction for a while

Here we go again......
I'd put this flood at about a 1 in 10 year level in terms of effect, and its timing in that frame is consistent.
Checking Horizon's river level forecasting yesterday, after only 22mm rain overnight, the gauge about 10-15km upriver from here was showing a peak of 11.5 metres to occur at 8pm last night.
The really devastating 2004 flood was 13 metres, and the 2006 one, 10 metres, but we were still a bit unsure how much we could tempt fate so far as leaving stock out.
Even though the local rainfall wasn't great, you cant tell what the effect of the huge catchment upstream from here will have, and I have to say, Horizons monitoring system, rainfall, soil saturation, expected run-off etc, works pretty good.
At 6 metres and rising at the upstream gauge, we know we have 6-7 hours before the river breaks banks down here.

Scot doing a bit of aqua-mustering

The stud lambs are only a month old, but all the mobs got boxed and taken up onto the hill faces I spoke so glowingly of assisting the cow wintering.
The beef herd's right in the middle of calving, and one of those mobs we shifted, as it turned out, un-necessarily, and the dogs spent the night well above ground-level in the woolshed.
A visiting mare I was foaling for a friend, we arranged to go to Letham Stud up on the hill from here, and the yearling I was boxing turned out with a paddock mate.
After the 2004 flood, I dunno who it was, Min of Works I think, decided that there wasnt enough of a water-table along the road outside the farm, so they rebuilt the road 18" higher. I tried to talk them out of it, explaining if they they just cleaned up the road verge I'd be happy for the flood water to run free across the road into paddocks following its old natural course downstream.
But no...... it has to be one of the stupidest bits of engineering I've ever seen, the water stays dammed on the river side of the road, and runs through the family homestead that's been dry in every flood since it was built around 1920, and also through the horse stable.
The horses spent the night paddling ankle deep, but I'm confident they're safe around the stable paddocks, its just this infernal 4-6" that the road works is damming up that's really consigning the home I grew up in to be an elaborate hayshed.
Citizens of Wanganui ought to be careful about Horizons spending millions on city stop-bank works, in my opinion, engineers dont always get it right.
The best way to handle flood water is to watch what it wants to do, and let it do it un-impeded.
Keeping out of its way is the best strategy.
Now I wait for the flood water to recede so I can sort these mobs of sheep and cattle back out where they belong.
I'm grateful for the help of neighbours Malcolm and Cameron, shifting stock.
Not so for the young gawkers who farted up and down the road in their tractors this morning for no apparent reason other than the thrill of seeing if it could be done, and who helped themselves to a drive around my paddocks seeking an alternative to the impassible bits of valley road.
In the end I let them cut the boundary fence so they could get round, but I bet no bastard offers to rejoin the fence for me.

WHS 1st XV Score Premier Trophy

Having a couple of nephews do their secondary education through Wanganui High School, family involvement with college rugby has been a Saturday morning regular. Both have gone on to university but Waione.co has continued a small sponsorship of the team.
Today the team pulled a thriller of a final match against Palmerston North Boys High to gain the Premier Trophy, a sort of 2nd division college comp, behind the Top 10, for the Manawatu area. Trailing at half time the supporters group were starting to get a bit anxious, but this is a well drilled and very fit group of young men and a couple of late tries equalised the scores 25-all at full time. Comp rules negate going to extra time and the boys won on number of tries count-back, 4 to 3!
A major contributor to Wanganui High's climb up the ranks of competition over the last few years has been Darryl's skilful and focussed coaching, the PGGW stock agent is also handles Waione farm's livestock trading.
Most of the teams sponsors are local oufits all doing business with each other in some way.
Well done Team!

Team and Coach embrace the Cup

The AB's securing the Bledisloe Cup after a second win over Australia topped off a great day.

Winter Wear

The approach of winter sent me diving into the cupboard for my base layer outdoor rags.
Just by chance I was passing a rack at the PN New World checkout that had long sleeve singlets and long-johns priced at $21 a throw.
They had to be synthetic and against my wool-grower religion, but I'm 1/4 Scot and cant resist a bargain, so I came home with a set, and I'm impressed. Soft feel, warm, light, and nowhere near as clammy as polyprop, or wool for that matter, when you sweat.
I was intrigued, the only label on it is Sealcote and "made in China".
Interestingly, a Google search turns up that sealcote is a US invented process that coats the inside of the synthetic filament, synthetic threads are hollow as opposed to wool's having scales, and is why the latter has had dominance in the dye-fastness and heat control stakes.
Apparently this process permits the inside of the filament to be coated with, you name it..... dye, anti-bacterial, anti-perspirant, etc, without affecting the cosy-ness of the outer.
I'm wearing the stuff now, its great. Its got a polo type neck too, most of the competition only have a T-neck, I mean, what's the point of a warm torso, if your neck's exposed to the breeze.
Last year I wrote in praise of the merino underwear, but, even as a wool-producer, I'm admitting this stuff's got it beat. The merino T's have developed holes in less than 12 months and are unthreading themselves, to me that's a sign the staple length in the spin is too short. A lot of Chinese made woollens do this because they're re-cycling woollen clothing, hammering the old weave into a pulp and re-spinning, but with a greatly hammer-bashed shortened spin staple.
The merino T's were $90 a throw, but the competition is cheaper now.
This sealcote stuff is excellent value, and its lighter and cottony in feel, and I guess it will be wearable further into an approaching summer than merino. I was picking the light merino would be wearable all year, but no, it just gets too hot.
Dunno where all this puts me as a wool-producer, a bit of a blow to belief in my own product.
We just need to keep on the innovation and niche product trail. Petro-chemical based products do have a finite life compared with wool's sustainability, but that's a day well beyond my lifetime. Its said we need to diversify away from wool's use solely in carpet, but I wouldn't have anything other than a wool carpet in the house. And I still prefer wool as an outer shell, big knit jerseys, gloves, beanie, and Swannie.
Anyway, I went back to New World and bought up the last pair of Sealcotes in my size.
On the other hand.....
only a week or so to the shortest day!
21 June.

But wait....... there's more

In the last post I mentioned my quest to use my smart phone as a data logger, for all sorts of stuff....
On Excel 2010 I've written a chopped-down feed budget program, with separate screens for pasture growth, cover assessment, stock on hand, copying subtots to final budget with a fancy little 12 month graph with available DM and demand lines. I want eventually to do my sheep recording on it as well.
Quick Office came bundled with the Atrix2, and fantastically, the whole feed budget suite copied over from desktop to phone via the USB cable no prob, the phone appearing on My Computer as drive:E or something.
There was a small inconvenience, the row and column freezes didn't copy over, and of course when you pack down to the 4.5" odd of a phone screen, you start having to guess where you are. Not good.
Searching the apps in Google and Google Play, brought up that for $17.95 I could buy the next version up of Quick Office, QO Pro, so I did.
Yep, on opening everything bolder and faster, AND, it frame freezes, but OH NO!!.........
the Swype number pad cursor keys don't work in Pro, and the whole keyboard just disappears when you shift to the next cell, just as it does when you press enter!
Bummer.....
I had a chat to Bryce at DSE, top man this guy, a real knowledge fund.
He pulled out his iPhone5. What I gleaned here is, who needs a keyboard, when the voice recognition on this bit of gear is so good. Its mind blowing, like having an intelligent mate.
But I think Apple only run with Docs to Go in the compatible spreadsheet stakes, a program I discarded some time ago, and its not in the same street as QuickOffice.
So I said, what about Samsung S4 Active, the ruggedised smartie due out soon, as an Android option. Hitch there is sealing from elements inevitably reduces sound volumes, the Atrix is bad enough at this for my hearing. Plus, you have to climb over Samsung's proprietary whizz-bangs to get at what you actually want to do, that is unless you "root" the phone.
So.....
for the moment, I'm stuck with QO standard version for data logging, and QO Pro for read outs.
And I'm working on the voice recognition input facility, taking a while to master Nuances nuances, but I think it might have possibilities.......
I'll keep you posted............lol

If you haven't got anything good to say.......

There's a good piece of etiquette advice circulating about what we put up on the www. along the lines of.... "if you haven't got anything good to say...., don't say it". After all, its common sense and good manners, we don't as a rule bad-mouth out loud in public, and the www. is public domain.
I thought a bit about this a couple of days back when I was about to launch into a tirade of invective about my cellphone manufacturer, and am now pleased I kept my trap shut.
I finally settled on a Motorola Atrix 2 as my mobile device of choice. Things have been going along swimmingly with it integrating farm, business, and personal IT demands, but the other night I switched the phone's wifi on, immediately getting a "ping", notification of updates to the several apps I've loaded, and including one of an update to the Motorola's operating system.
With an update notification you get the option of vetting each suggested update individually, and thinking all was OK, I pushed "go", and sat back to some TV.
On picking up, I was aghast to find the operating system update had taken my phone interface to the dark side, previously basically black text on a light/white background, it had gone the other way, white text on dark ground, so much harder to read for us sight challenged older gen, and the reason why I dumped Windows based phones in preference for Android.
So it was into the settings menu to look for fixes. The settings function had changed, there was no option to reverse the interface, but I did find a new option to greatly enlarge text size, so I set for the super-size.
That was quite a help, although it cuts down the text enter box size when texting.
Phew to that one, but jees....... hang on, what's going on with the Excel sync'ing I'd been working on for farm and livestock data between the phone's Quick Office and MS Office on my desktop.
Diving in to a Quicksheet, the China Bell numeric keypad option I've been using for data input has gone. I mean this was calamity district, the standard keyboard with phones and tablets, jumps from the number list back to querty every time you enter or shift to another cell, rendering the use of such gear in the field a stupid waste of time.
So it was here I was about to blaspheme, but I held my tongue, spent a heap of time on Google seeing how other keyboard apps worked, and finally found that the Swype that came with the update does have a number pad, and what's more with cursor keys!
So, you can enter numbers, and shift to the next entry cell with the cursor without the number pad disappearing, and it'll stay there as long as you don't use the enter key to change cells.
Well, hooray for that, its actually better than the China Bell I've been using.
The address book's a bit easier to enter and edit contact details, and the phone dialler pops up when its supposed to now.
I guess I can put up with a bit of the loss in interface theme convenience for all this.

Out of the Drought

Well here, we are..... but still not so fortunate in other parts of the country.
Not so far north of here, 50km as the crow flies, things look absolutely dire. From SH1, Taihape and Hunterville hills looked grey and grim under an overcast sky, in a late afternoon drive-through last Sunday. Quite rightly they're worried about the onset of frosts stopping autumn growth in its tracks, whatever of that they could expect from 9mm rain through April reported by one source.

Compare this kitchen-window shot with the March one

Down here, a stone's throw from the coast, we've had 141mm through April, and with heaps of latent heat in the soil, daily PGR's have been cranking along at 50 kg/ha since middle of the month. That's on the hills, the flats do 5kg better than that.
Actually, its hard to call it a bad summer and autumn for here. The extraordinary lower rainfall Sep through Dec, about half historical average, certainly set things up bad with no surplus feed carry-over, but rainfall Jan through Mar was actually above average each month.
The summer feed crops have been a boon, and I can now use the buffer hill-sidling feed reserve to build the cows up, while the back hills recover.
Its great to see the replacement ewe lambs putting some meat on. Although they've been on crop all through, I have pushed them to clean up the stubble, and lets face it, there hasn't been much feed off it.
Till now....

Hire cherry picker fixing woolshed spouting

To be honest, I've enjoyed the long summer days, it hasnt been too hot but working in loose clothing has been order of the day from sunup to sundown, not being rained off all those satisfying repair jobs, and stock work, no holdups getting the shearing done.
The last few summers have been pretty crappy short affairs, its almost like a cycle of return to the long summers we enjoyed years ago, when drought was an annual distant plaintive from somewhere over Hawkes Bay way.
The bees must have enjoyed it too going by reports from apiarists about this seasons honey crop being a bumper. Makes you wonder if the poor summer weather has been the cause of bee population decline rather than the anthropogenic wailing.
When seasons are wet, flowering's poor, and bees cant fly, its OUR FAULT.
And when we get a drought, its still OUR FAULT.
FFS, some people need to get real jobs.

Book: Serious Fun, the life and times of Alan Gibbs

This book's a good read for farmers, a sort of swashbuckling, but serious champion of capitalism.
Its always interesting to see how the self-made mega-wealthy got to be so, and I found his life path through the recent history of NZ economic development, from the days of rigid import control, through the Roger Douglas, Ruth Richardson years, detailed in the first half of the book, immensely so.
The second half of the book gets a bit languorous, as others who've read it have also commented, as it details Gibbs indulgences in mega art, and pursuit of the amphibious vehicle, the latter a credit to his tenacity, and an object lesson in product development.
Still, its a significant read, and good on him for letting/getting it be written.
Most of us ordinary mortals never get to experience what he has, his depth of reading, and travel and experience in over 130 countries visited. We need to rely on opinion of his ilk to test and formulate our own.
There's a closing piece in Serious Fun that's a little ominous, he's saying western democracies are now the most coerced societies, given our penchant for letting governments grow unrestrained. I guess he infers that because, although the intent of regulation is protection of the vulnerable, it mostly ends up as a another jobs arse to be protected, and consequent  impediment to the entrepreneur.
Us food producers world-wide are so much contributors to this, victims of our own success, we've fed our people so well they've become ever adept at riding on the backs of others, ie us, eating the hand that feeds them, rather than themselves create something that never existed before.
Like Mr Gibbs has, and continues to do.

"I stood upon the hills"

Tennyson said that.
"I stood upon the hills as heaven's wide arch, was glorious with the sun's returning march."
I always get a buzz out of early morning muster, sheep snort somewhere in the mist and slope off around their hill trails as the dogs do their ancient caper, sending their booming bark and howl down the gulleys.
The NZ huntaway was bred from crossing labradors with hunting hounds, hence the howly bit, and the penchant to run down their next feed, if you dont keep an eye on their training.

Rational thought on the Quad Bike safety Issue

At last somebody is applying some rational thought to this issue, and how pleasing it is coming from Fed Farmers own spokeswoman on Health and Safety, Jeanette Maxwell.
In a recent Dompost article she asks the question why the intense media scrutiny on farm quad accidents, 7 fatalities and 84 serious harm notifications last year, on around 100,000 machines on NZ farms, while on the road, there were 42 people killed and over 1000 seriously injured, on significantly fewer machines.
She dosent say how many road bikes there are, but looking up the govt stats it looks around 65,000.
At least that was the figure in 2007, and it dosent appear to have changed much since, despite a rush of new bike registrations in 2008.
That's around 7 times more road deaths per 1000 machines than on farms. Good point.
Simple conclusion is coroners and OSH staff havent got enough to do.
Farmers are always a good captive audience to wring a few more bucks from.
She goes on to quote other sectors such as water safety that say education is crucial, and excessive regulation, such as road machines are subject to, dont necessarily improve the stats.
If us farmers are going to be subject to more regulation, we're entitled to know why and what for.
Of course the nation could fix the accident rate over the whole spectrum in one fell swoop by getting rid of ACC so accident injuries become user pays, and businesses and vehicle owners could save a packet in ACC levies.

Book: The Great Divide, by Ian Wishart

I've put this slant on the Treaty of Waitangi in the farm blog under 5th Dimension stuff, rather than where I normally do book reviews on my jreb blog, given that security of tenure, the foundation of our Kiwi brand of capitalism, has an elephant in its room in the form of indigenous peoples (aka Maori) aspiration, originally over land issues, but now bounding over coastline, water, and air.
Us farmers with our land-holdings and proximity to the latter two, can be forgiven for taking the occasional glance over our shoulders.
You have to hand it to Ian Wishart as being one of the most prodigious researchers in the country, even if he's regarded as too much of a conspiracist in some quarters. His work on climate issues in "Air Con" is monumental, and he's sure made a good dig into the archives with this book.
One of the misfortunes of history is its propensity to be re-invented depending on the world-view of its interpreters, and I think a lot of that goes on with the Waitangi Tribunal. "The Great Divide" wont make any in-roads on that score, rather its benefit is as a good back-grounder for those watchful of us having to make a living under the elephant.
As a whakapapa'd (identifiably lineaged) blended Kiwi myself, (can get to Hawaiki, the original homeland of Maori, in 21 generations), I agree with Wishart's conclusion that the Treaty was embraced at the time, 1840, as the best opportunity for security of tenure for the locals in what was an increasingly "wild west" scenario, with the gun trade taking tribal conflict to an horrific level, and the French and Americans sitting in line for de facto authority, bleak alternatives if ever, particularly when you look at their respective poor record of colonisation and dealing with indigenous peoples.
Indeed you have to ask what Maori left Hawaiki for in the first place. Go to any established Pacific society and you'll find our rangatira level were subordinate to at least two higher levels of society, and often a royal family. Maybe it was they left because more than the heat of the tropics got too great, and not just sailing off for the sake of adventure, but actually to secure turangawaewae, "a place for their feet", somewhere else.
While a number of chiefs and tribes maintained a never say die 'its all ours, bugger off whites' stance over what they considered constituted Aotearoa, and the call still taken up today, Wishart points out the little credited and remembered hui at Kohimarama where the majority of chiefs ratified their defence of the 1840 Treaty and allegiance to the concept of Crown, 20 years later. He argues this as evidence of a desire by the chiefs to advance individual land title, and once enshrined, to enable whatever disposition desired, including sale.
Dunno.... the plot around land sale by chiefs gets pretty thick outside of this investigation.
You can argue back and forth on the legitimacy or otherwise of both sides of the from then till now issue ad infinitum. What I think it comes down to is where NZ society wants to take it to today.
Simply, put it to the vote.
Wishart's concluding plank has much merit too. Do we want a written constitution holding Maori aspiration and the Crown, as jointly superior to the wishes of the people?
That's no constitution at all. If it was to be one, the people would be at the top.
Otherwise, why bother with a Parliament.

First Aid

Our industry workplace, the farm, is an environment where accidents, if they happen, can be severe.
Taking a basic first aid course is something I've always wanted to do, and I finally got to last weekend joining with one organised by my local branch of Ulysses Motorcycle Club in conjunction with St John's.
I thought we were in for a fair bit about doing stuff to wounds and bone breaks, but things have moved on over the years, and now its focussed more on securing the accidentee and immediate environment, and preparing for arrival and/or evacuation with the first aid response professionals.
St John have devised an acronym based response guide, DRS,ABC+D

D - danger - scene assess for self, others, patient
R - response - check patient status, call name, squeeze shoulder
S - send for help
A - airway - check for clear, recovery position
B - breathing - check look, listen, feel, if none go to...
C - CPR - compressions/breaths '30:2 no matter who' till pro's arrive
D - defrib - increasingly at hand these days, auto-commands inbuilt

We also covered dealing with choking, bleeding, and bone breaks in the immediate response context.

The St John website has a good summary of the above.
The St John course instructor was excellent, as was the St John training rooms, in fact, edifying to get to appreciate the whole local St John facility.

This week I've increased my regular donations to St John, and to the local Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter.
Compliments to Safety Officer Lance and Ulysses for taking this initiative, its comforting to know that on organised rides, most of the others will have a good idea what to do.
Might save a life.

Farm Resilience in the Face of Volatility

Problem with being an old hand is you dont learn much at field days, if you come away with one new thing its been a good day.
The weather was a real prick yesterday and B&LNZ's latest seminar offering was just over the hill in Turakina, so I toddled along.
And came away with plenty, main of which was a pretty substantial worksheet for devising risk management strategy in the farming system, identifying the factors, their relevance, likely effects, and space to notate what to do about it.
Great plan, thanks B&LNZ, going to be fun working through it, and possible material for future posts here.
There was a major slant to climate change, discussion led by Andrew Tait from NIWA, who presented data showing there has been a 1degC increase in temp mean over the last 100 years here in NZ, reflecting the world-wide situation.
I've been a skeptic/denier if you want to call it that, still am, not so much about the data, but at being bullied by others on issues significant to them, not necessarily to me. I accept the temp rise is real, but frankly I'd sooner go to work during a drought than in the winter weather I'm hiding from here at my computer desk today, made even worse by my having spent the last three winters in the northern hemisphere motorcycle cruising shirt-sleeved across the 30degC Mid-West USA.
Proof of farmer acceptance of "climate change" was proffered by the results of a survey in which farmers ranked it as 3rd on their list of threats behind, of one thing, Winston Peters, but this is a misconstruction, its actually the ETS and similar townie conspired assault on our way of life we consider the threat, not so much whether the ice on Antarctic is going to melt or not.
Just last night on the way home from the movies, I heard one whacker on Kerre Woodham's Talkback expounding "we (townies) were subsidising farmers on the ETS". This is the sort of crank along with the Greens that exercise votes impacting on farmings future. There is no properly functional ETS at the moment, and farmers pay the same levy on fuel and power he does, on an individual basis, a freaking sight more.
And further, I walk to work each day, I bet he dosent.
In my world here on this farm I've lived on since a couple of days after I was born, things have changed little. As kids maybe we used to break ice on the puddles while waiting for the school bus, nowadays you dont see the puddled ice so much because the road is sealed.
Going to Wellington or Auckland is a different story, traffic jams to social mayhem, and all that concommitant urban shit. People who live under rain-clouds think its raining everywhere else.
What I really really like about the climate change debate, who's presenting the truth or not, is that scientists can no longer go to work without the feeling the world's looking over their shoulder.
Join the club mate, that's what farming's turning into these days. LOL
Trevor Cook delivered his usual dose of common sense on matters of livestock care in a changing environment, and Gary Massicks outlined and added to formulating the risk management plan.
Due to the smallish attendance we didnt break into workshop sessions to "drill down" into the topics, thank goodness, do I hate workshop sessions.
The open forum opted for served admirably.

TAF 3

This would just about have to be my final word I think, following a chat with another dairy-farmer neighbour.
The vote's gone through at 66%, which, while not over the hoped for 75% option also on the vote sheet, could be regarded as "near enough".
He says there's always a dissident voice, it was even worse during the debate whether to form Fonterra in the first place with the combination of Kiwi Co-op, NZ Dairy Group, and the Dairy Board itself.
Some of the opposition in the current debate arises from quite credible source, but the bottom-line principle still is one of single desk being able to better serve a number of producers in a small nation, right from getting away from competing milk collection tankers driving up and down the same rural road to competing for product sales on the bigger world stage.
Contrary to my previous comment about the future danger if PROC get to dominate the TAF fund, that possibility is actually mitigated. If not for TAF, it would be open slather for foreign capital to offer individual farmers sweetheart deals for their shares, as well as buy in share-holding through farm acquisition.
This way, TAF is the only entry/exit point for capital, and its size-limited to 20% of the total shares.
While its been some time in the making, safeguards have been introduced at each raising of concern, no doubt such will continue.
The involvement of Govt remains an issue. Why cant farmers just be allowed to get on with it?
A big part of the motivation behind the DIRA seems to me a knee jerk response to NZ public complaint about the rising price of milk and cheese, and while changes to the Act might be necessary to effect this latest change in capital structure, I hope its not going to include "safeguards" to the NZ dairy product consumer, ie read price control. Already there's this ridiculous requirement of Fonterra to supply their opposition with a percentage of milk at a controlled price.
Competing companies dont appear to be doing all that well as it is.
Fonterra's done well, in a shaky world economy, returning a good reward to suppliers by and large, and giving a robustness to the value of protein on supermarket shelves.
This latter point shouldnt go un-acknowledged by us meat, and wool, producers, poor relation as we are bereft of a decent processing and marketing chain.