tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10612095024805689032024-03-16T14:09:39.844+13:00Milking on the Moove by Glen HerudI'm Glen Herud and I believe the dairy industry can be a profession that New Zealanders are proud of and want to be a part of.
Join Glen herud on this blog as we discuss the issues facing dairy farmers and the tweaking that can be done to make the dairy industry the pride of New Zealand.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.comBlogger79125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-37834896883479369782016-09-05T22:47:00.000+12:002016-09-05T22:47:00.924+12:00Thinking Of Starting a Micro Dairy. Don't Do It!<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've been selling milk from my micro dairy for over 1.5 years now. I started with 7 cows and I'm now milking 55 cows and selling milk all over Christchurch to some of the top cafe's and restaurants.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm selling direct to the public as well and we are about to start supplying supermarkets too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So things are going well. At least from the outside it looks successful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Internally, it feels like a complete shit show in which I'm only just hanging on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I now employ 2 full time staff and I literally work 14 hours a day 6 days a week. Which is exactly the opposite of what I set out to achieve.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Over the last 6 months, </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've spoken to most of the small scale dairy operators around the country who are doing a similar business. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The common theme is, no one is really making any money.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My advice is, Don't do it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm very reluctant to encourage anybody to embark on a similar venture. It's so much hard work and so much more complex than you would think.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I don't say this lightly, after all this is has been my dream for the past 5 years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But every week I get calls from people all around New Zealand. Some are thinking about doing a similar thing, some are already under way with the set up. I enjoy chatting and hearing their plans and I like to offer my advice.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Knowing what I know now, I'd say 90% of the people who call will fail. If they don't fail they will get the shock of their lives and scramble to make the changes that are needed. (which is kind of what I've done.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some common comments are:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"My plan is to just undercut everybody"</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well, if you think you can milk 50-100 cows, process, package your milk, deliver it and be cheaper than Fonterra or the budget milk brands. You're dreaming.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"With the payout so low, I'm looking for other ways of bringing in more income. I thought I could just divert a couple of hundred litres out of the vat and deliver it into our local township"</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sounds like a good plan. But you don't "just" divert a few hundred litres out of the vat. That few hundred litres will consume all your time and will be more work than the rest of your operation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"I'm going run the farm and employ someone to do all the sales for me"</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">No. You have to do the sales. If you can't rock up to a cafe owner and peddle your milk your self, then no employee is going to be able to do it either. This type of business is a sales and marketing business with about 10% of your time taken up farming.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"I've spoken to a few cafes and they all said they'd love to buy my milk"</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Almost all cafe's will say they want to buy your milk. It's a completely different story to actually deliver milk to a cafe. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Most cafe's are buying their milk at $1.25 to $1.50 per litre. You can't make money at $1.50/litre and in fact you probably won't make much money at $2.50/litre either.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You will need to be able to go to a cafe owner and convince them to stop buying milk from the Meadow Fresh or Anchor guy, who they are now friends with because they have seen him every day for the last 5 years. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You need to convince them to give back the $5,000 worth of fridges that Anchor or Meadow Fresh have provided to them for free and on top of that you then need to convince them to pay twice as much for your milk. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When you think about it, milk is the major ingredient in their most popular product. You are asking them to </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">pay double for that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: helvetica neue, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">So you better shine up your snake skin salesman shoes and get used to rejection.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: helvetica neue, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: helvetica neue, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">"I dont need any fancy equipment, I'm only going to be milking 20 cows"</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: helvetica neue, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Actually, the smaller you are the more efficient you need to be. That's because you don't have lots of labour. Labour makes up a disproportionate proportion of your costs. Your equipment and processes and systems need to be super easy to use and clean and operate. Everything needs to be planned and well designed. If its not, you will end up spending hours and hours just fiddling around.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: helvetica neue, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">This is my biggest learning. We are very inefficient and it's costing me a fortune in unnecessary labour costs. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: helvetica neue, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The problem is you probably don't know what equipment you need or how your systems will run before you start. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: helvetica neue, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Make sure you have the cash to redo everything after 6 months.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_I3BYcqVnh4sApIhsuY_9aWamarZR654me4qMG8GFcyCUxXhmofDay_yXxY1dBYbxZQEaTH8nCTU7bNCGDNxueYBKjroA969QHQfkzNai0C803R_EzmMmZMELU9AT5RdGpxcnCjNjdv8/s1600/Nature+Matters_0030.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_I3BYcqVnh4sApIhsuY_9aWamarZR654me4qMG8GFcyCUxXhmofDay_yXxY1dBYbxZQEaTH8nCTU7bNCGDNxueYBKjroA969QHQfkzNai0C803R_EzmMmZMELU9AT5RdGpxcnCjNjdv8/s640/Nature+Matters_0030.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All my budgets had shown that I needed to sell 300 litres per day to make money. I now think you need to sell at least 600 litres per day to be profitable. You will need to sell your milk at a minimum of $2.50/litre and preferable more than that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's actually quite hard to do. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other thing to consider is competition. I've had calls from multiple people from almost every part of the country. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are currently over 135 dairy RMP applications before MPI. Many of these are micro dairies. There will be competition in the future. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's hard enough trying to compete against Goodman fielder and Fonterra. If you add two or three farmers also competing against each other. It makes for very uncertain profitability.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My advice is to seriously consider if you really want to actually set up a micro dairy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would not recommend it. It is seriously hard work.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having said that, it is possible to make a success of things, but it is not easy and it needs to be done a certain way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've blogged before that the answer to making small scale dairies viable is for these farmers to collaborate and work together by pooling resources and knowledge.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's my plan to organise something in the future. But right now my priority is to try and stop hemorrhaging money every month.</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com58tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-69064116704454034472016-01-06T22:58:00.000+13:002016-01-07T07:56:24.000+13:00Sprout Agribusiness Programme & Who Wants To Go Mobile Milking?<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the last 2 years I’ve been working full
time to set up an experimental prototype dairy system. The plan has always been to "pave the way"so other people,</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> like me can go farming even if they don't have any land or very much money.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I believe it was Peter Brock who said “Bite off more than you
can chew and then chew like crazy”. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That describes my last two years quite
accurately.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Without going into all the details, I’ve
learnt a lot over the last two years and now it's time to crank things up and
get this show on the road for real.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A Quick update</b></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In order to move to the next step I need more money, as I've used all I have setting up the prototype system.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ve been accepted into the <a href="http://www.sproutagritech.com/" target="_blank">Sprout Agritech business accelerator</a>. The programme is designed to help boost agricultural
technology companies with potential to go on to become successful global
businesses.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They had 60 applications; they interviewed
22 and finally selected 8 businesses to participate in the programme.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Sprout programme is based in Palmerston
North and is funded by:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">LIC<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gallagher<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MIG Angels (Palmerston North)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ellison Holdings (Larry Ellison from Foxton not San
Francisco)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">K One W One (Sir Stephen Tindall)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enterprise Angels (Tauranga)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A big thanks to those organizations for putting the
cash up and supporting agricultural development in NZ.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">The Sprout organisation have taken an equity stake in
my company and I’ll spend the next few months working alongside some pretty cool
people and getting myself ready for the</span><span lang="EN-GB"> investment
showcase which is held at the end of the programme in March 2016. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">This is an
opportunity for the 8 businesses to pitch for investment from agri focused
investors.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>We're Selling Milk</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the past year I’ve established that people
actually want to buy my milk (thank goodness!) and the steady stream of emails
from people wanting to set up their own little businesses like mine has shown
me that there actually are people out there who think this
is a good idea!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You never really know if your idea is any
good until you try it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this case, when I told farmers about my
mobile project they all said it was a bad idea. But when I told my town friends
and acquaintances, they all said it was a great idea. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Who to believe?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway I gave
it a crack and it turns out that there are good number of people who like the concept.
So it's now worth taking these ideas beyond my own little project.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Plan</b></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The plan now is to make what I’ve leant
available to others and to set up a system that people can “plug into”. This
system will take care of all the crappy, time consuming, tedious stuff that
real people don’t really need to know about.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ll give you an example,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you’re a farmer and you wanted to set up
a dairy farm, and let's say you choose to supply Fonterra. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fonterra give you the “Fonterra Handbook”
which includes all the rules and specifications that farmers have to abide by
in order to comply with Fonterra’s risk management programme to produce milk.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The farmer then buys a milking plant and
has a cowshed built. The milking machine company sells a machine that complies
with the food safety code and the builder builds a cowshed that complies with
the code as well. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These items are reasonably priced because there are lots of
milking machine companies & builders who can supply cowsheds and milking
plants.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The farmer doesn’t need to know all the
food safety regulations for every aspect of their business because their equipment
suppliers & Fonterra know all about their particular parts and they pass onto
the farmer what they need to know.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There’s no one who provides a solution like
that for small scale dairy producers. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you look at the small cheese makers or
milk producers, they have to do everything themselves. They have to write their
own RMP and then maintain it and then cover the costs of audits and inspections
and when they buy equipment that complies with all the regulations, it tends to
be a “custom, one off solution” which comes with an eye watering price tag.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Providing small producers have the time and
the patience to get setup and accredited. They then have to compete against all
the big boys in their market. And these big corporates get really aggressive,
once you start to make a dent in their market share.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So it’s no wonder there are just a handful of small-scale dairy businesses around.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But small scale farmers have lots of
advantages too and there are real opportunities available around the world that
smaller farmers can access. You just have to do it the right way.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Turnkey Dairy Business</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ve started the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/naturemattersmilkcompany" target="_blank">Nature Matters Milk Company</a> to serve small scale dairy farmers and to make it easier for them to succeed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The two main areas that bring down small dairy
businesses are regulatory compliance issues and lack of a strong brand, which
affects profitability.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m currently building and testing the
systems that other small farmers can utilise. These systems have to ensure every individual farmer complies with all the
regulations and also ensures that they don’t get anybody sick. That alone is a
big job and much more complicated than I thought. Which is the story of my life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m also slowly building a proper brand
(although it's not public yet).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>You Can Go Farming Too.</b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once I've got all that sorted, I'll be able to provide you with all the equipment (at reasonable prices) needed to milk cows, pasteurise milk, package milk & deliver milk to their local community. By the way, it won't look anything like my current setup either.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You'll operate under my RMP & I'll provide you with complete training and step by step manuals on everything you need to know.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll audit you regularly and my system will ensure you are recording & complying with everything you are meant to.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What this means is you can start a small dairy business that is likely to be profitable from day one and you don't have to worry about the large regulatory costs, as they are split across all farmers using the system.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm not mother theresa, so I'll probably </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">charge a percentage of your turnover as my fee. This means if you're not successful then neither am I.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's just a quick run down on the principle of how the business will run. Essentially I'm taking away the costly boring stuff and letting you get on with farming and providing outstanding customer service.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Who's Keen?</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These things cost quite a bit of
money to develop, which is why I approached the Sprout programme. I hope to be able to
bring on a financial partner or partners who can provide the funding to fast
track the development so we can get rolling.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the meantime, if you think you might
like to set up your own micro dairy then drop me an email glen@naturematters.co.nz.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ve got no further info at this stage, so please don't email me with lots of questions.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm just creating a list of people who are interested in going farming in the Nature Matters Milk style.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you're keen, email me with:</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Your name</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What you doing at the moment</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Where you from</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why you are interested.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've got no other information, so please don't ask me questions. I'll let everybody know when I've got more to say.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cheers</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Glen</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-81065416635742786862015-12-10T07:21:00.001+13:002015-12-10T07:28:32.613+13:00Bobby Calves, Palm Kernel, N Caps Are Beautiful Opportunities, Not Constraints<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I’m reading a book called the <a href="http://abeautifulconstraint.com/" target="_blank">beautiful constraint.</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The premise of the book is that the thing
that constrains your business can also turn out to be your biggest advantage. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I can’t help but think New Zealand agriculture
and our dairy industry in particular could benefit from looking at their
current constraints in a different light.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The book gives examples of people or
businesses that had to deal with a constraint. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Often the constraint forces you to look at
the problem differently and explore other options that you would never have
thought of, if it were not for the original constraint. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The result can be a unique solution that is
truly unique and beautiful.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dairy Farmers </span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Constraints</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dairy farmers in New Zealand feel like they
are being subjected to a number of constraints in recent times.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A few examples from recent weeks are:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Palm Kernel</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/72361968/Fonterra-PKE-bombshell-bewilders-farmers" target="_blank">Fonterra asked farmers to reduce the use of Palm Kernel to 3kg/cow/day.</a></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Palm kernel is a result of the palm oil
industry, which is a major cause of deforestation in parts of Asia. The use of
palm kernel is a major issue for many consumers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Farmers viewed the suggestion defensively;
many see this cheap feed as a necessary part of their system & to not be
able to use it is a threat to their financial viability.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Bobby Calves</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last week a <a href="https://www.tvnz.co.nz/content/tvnz/ondemand/shows/s/sunday/s2015/e44-6428308.html" target="_blank">television show ran a story onthe treatment of bobby calves in New Zealand.</a> While much of the public know the
footage was from a very small minority. The show highlighted the practice of
sending infant calves to the freezing works.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The response from farmers was “robust”,
with farmers defending their treatment of calves and the hashtag
#caringforcalves being formed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Many farmers missed the point that the
public were concerned that a milk dependant calf can be transported to the
works and killed at such a young age.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I don’t use palm kernel & we don’t send
our calves away to the works either. In fact we leave our calves with their
mothers to feed naturally. Once the calves are weaned they are grown as a beef
animal.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>PKE & bobby calves are </b></span></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>opportunities</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While many farmers see the lack of palm
kernel and having to keep their bobby calves as a constraint. I’ve found them
to be a wonderful opportunity.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPbvb98c0wjVEextaDEymEdcYRnABUibFaLXw63vTLCfiMdmRvQ1SoXw1Hsu4lz25Ge9ID8A1bASGC_1Zi04JUXEfm4BZUjuqpXEwkXKM0vTcXoE8jNTsf-Ev-tN-nHsVAEq7C3HnGvBo/s1600/2015-09-15+14.46.23-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Babby Calves with their mothers" border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPbvb98c0wjVEextaDEymEdcYRnABUibFaLXw63vTLCfiMdmRvQ1SoXw1Hsu4lz25Ge9ID8A1bASGC_1Zi04JUXEfm4BZUjuqpXEwkXKM0vTcXoE8jNTsf-Ev-tN-nHsVAEq7C3HnGvBo/s640/2015-09-15+14.46.23-1.jpg" title="Bobby Calves" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Two of the most common questions I get
asked at farmers markets or while delivering milk to cafes is; what do you do
with your calves? & do you use palm kernel?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My answer ensures that I attract a new
diehard fan.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>I’ve faced a number of constraints while
setting up my milk business</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I had no money to buy land, so I leased
bare land. But a major constraint is, how do you milk cows on leased land? The
answer is the mobile cowshed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Many people wouldn't even get to that stage, the logical answer is "You need a cowshed so you can only lease an existing dairy farm". There are lots of other options.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But then I was constrained again because no
dairy company would take milk from a mobile cowshed. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The solution was to start my
own milk factory. This is something I would not have considered had the dairy
companies being more welcoming of a mobile cowshed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Again I was constrained by the lack of
funds, I could only afford a small herd. How can I make money from a small herd
when all over the world the small scale farmers are going out of business? </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The
solution is to sell direct to the consumer. Again this is something I had not
considered, but by consistently asking myself “how can I make this work?” l eventually came to that answer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Which then led me onto what consumers want?
They want high levels of animal welfare and low environmental impacts. I put a
self-imposed limit on farming within a Nitrogen cap of 20kg N/ha/yr, and I set
about learning how to do it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://overseer.org.nz/" target="_blank">Overseerer</a> tells me we leached less than
13kg of N/ha/yr in our first year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After working through each constraint with
a truly open mind I’ve come to a place where I have the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/naturemattersmilkcompany/" target="_blank">Nature Matters MilkCompany</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dairy farmers will be receiving about
$5/kgms this season. The most they have ever received is $8/kgms.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I’m receiving $32/kgms for my milk. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Every single one of the constraints listed
above is actually a key reason why people choose to buy my milk. They are not
constraints at all; they are actually key points of differentiation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Looking back I can see that these
constraints acted like a filter and forced me to distil my ideas into something
that was a workable solution.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I’m not saying my system is for everyone,
but I’d encourage farmers not jump to the logical answer and to instead keep
asking “what if” or "how can we".<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What if we didn't use plam kernel? what if we devised a different model for our unwanted calves?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>The logical answer is holding Fonterra back</b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The world is looking for high quality, sustainable dairy, produced ethically that stands against the industrialisation of food production. </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've spoken to people within Fonterra in recent months. A comment I've heard more than once is "our farmers just wouldn't accept that".</span></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If New Zealand dairy farmers would open up to doing things differently, there is a whole world of high value opportunity.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To me, that’s the logical path to follow. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But I’m aware most farmers think the exact opposite way to me and we'll continue to see farmers "fight back" with <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/opinion/74727804/a-dirty-cruel-murdering-dairy-farmer-turns-over-a-new-leaf" target="_blank">articles like this one</a>, which just reinforces the public's opinion that farmers are a bit slow & simple, resistant to change and are stuck in a low value, production focused business model.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And we'll continue to see low value, undifferentiated milk powder sold to the world for the same price as factory farmed milk powder produced in the US or Europe.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sigh.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-19847503720003865952015-05-13T00:07:00.000+12:002015-05-13T06:42:37.368+12:00So You Want To Set Up Your Own Small Scale Milk Business? This Is What You Really Need To Know.<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, it appears that there are lots of people in New Zealand (and the world) who want to either set up their own milk business or want to go mobile milking.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My goal is to set up a streamlined system that will allow others to start their own small scale dairy business. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My inbox is full of people asking me questions about how to set up their own milk business. I would spend 45 minutes to an hour replying to these emails from complete strangers. I did it because I want to promote small scale dairy & I want others to do well.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But of all these emails I've replied to, less than 10% of these people actually reply back to me. I think it is just good manners to at least flick a quick response back to me saying "Thanks Glen". </span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I'm reluctant to devote much time to tyre kickers. I'm more than willing to help people who are serious about setting up a micro dairy. Any enquiries I get from now on will be directed to this blog post.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<h3>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The equipment is the easy part</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lots of people are asking questions about the mobile cowshed or the pasteuriser or various equipment questions. But in many respects the equipment is the least of the issues that need to be faced.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To build a mobile cowshed you simply need to talk to an engineer and your local milking machine guy and you'll be able to get something made up.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The mobile milking equipment simply allows people to get into the milk production business at a lower cost. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People still need to have willing customers, provide customer service, match supply to demand and generally be better than their competition. All the while dealing with the regulations and the significant ongoing regulatory compliance.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The real issue you worry about is </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><b>Too much work for too little money</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></span>
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<h3>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Small business is hard</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Small businesses have a terrible success rate. Studies from around the world all seem to show a pretty bleak picture.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"8 out of 10 new businesses fail within the first three years"</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">"80 percent of new businesses fail within the first five years"</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">"53 percent of small to medium-sized enterprises (SME) fail within the first three years"</span></span></blockquote>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is it really worth it?</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I recently spoke to a cheese maker who was shutting down their business. They had an award winning product that was stocked in major supermarkets. But when all things were considered, <b>it was just too much work for too little money. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think many of the business failures we see in the statistics amount to the owners saying to themselves "for the amount of effort and stress I'm going through. The money is just not good enough. I may as well just get a job" </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Anyone can start a business, the hard part is creating a business that provides a healthy margin and does not require the owner to be over worked.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You need to overcome the following issues</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div>
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Regulations</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Any business that processes milk (or meat), comes under a whole extra range of food safety regulations. It's not like starting a cafe where the local council inspector does your audit once in a while.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These extra requirements are particularly difficult for small dairy producers. <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503462&objectid=11361779" target="_blank">The story of Biddy is a classic example</a>. MPI have to ensure she meets all the regulations. I support MPI's position, but at the same time the burden is huge on a business her size. I spend more time doing paper work than I do actually milking my cows. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don't underestimate the time it takes to be compliant. If you don't do it properly you will get smashed at your regular audits. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<h4>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Time off</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many small businesses are dependant on the owner. The owner has all the knowledge. The thing I have noticed with small food producers is that the operators find it very hard to take time off. The purpose of being in your own business is to have more options and a better lifestyle. When you are processing milk you can't just hire a relief milker, you need fully trained and competent people. How does a one man band justify the training expenses of someone who will only milk a few weeks a year. Don't forget, there is paperwork that needs to be done for new staff & this will be audited.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<h4>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Time efficient operations</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you are small scale, you can't afford to be messing around all day. You will be amazed at how quickly your day disappears. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before you know it it's 4:00pm and all you've done is milk & feed 10 cows, pasteurise the milk and deliver it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is when you work out the $/per hour and you realise you may as well just get a job!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You need a system that is automated and designed with time efficiency in mind. The problem is, if you're going to build your own system (like I have) you won't know what is going to take up all the time until you've built it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even if you are awesome and you designed the perfect processing room/trailer/cowshed you need to be aware that nothing works as it should straight away. That gas hot water system won't keep working as they said it would, the pump they sold you will turn out to be inadequate 2 months into milking etc etc.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<h4>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The hidden costs</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Add $20,000 to your budget for unknown costs. You will need it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Example 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've spent $3,500 on milk testing to determine where a bug was coming from. We found the source of the the bug, but no one can explain how that bug was making its way into the milk. It seemed like this bug was defying physics. The result was I modified my pasteuriser at a cost of $3,500. There's $7K of unbudgeted costs that you would never have anticipated.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Example 2</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The stainless steel fittings used in the milking plant do not comply with the milk processing standards for the milk processing area. I only found that out during my inspection. Thats another $2,500.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I could go on and on. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Glen's grand plan</span></h3>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My goal has never changed. It's been to
create a dairy business that our best young New Zealanders want to be involved
in and more importantly, can afford to be involved in.</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
There are three issues that I care about:</span><br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Attracting our best young people to agribusiness</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Moving New Zealand agriculture up the value chain</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Truly sustainable dairy farming</span></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shortly I will officially launch my milk brand, Nature Matters Milk Company.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My vision is to set up a financially viable, environmentally sustainable, small scale dairy business that can be replicated throughout New Zealand by others.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My vision is to have a network of great people all around New Zealand supplying their local community with real, sustainable milk.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a network of people who understand, eco dairy farming, who understand processing and food safety, who also live and breathe customer service and understand marketing and how to build a branded business.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But there are many obstacles that need to crossed before this can happen. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The most obvious obstacle is that, I don't even really know how to create a "<i>financially viable, environmentally sustainable, small scale dairy business"</i> as I described above. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I'm pretty sure I'll know in about 6 months time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<h3>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We must join together</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It makes no sense to have lots of individual farmers all operating and administering their own 20,000 word Risk Management Programmes, while competing against each other and working themselves into the ground. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We need join together.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fonterra farmers don't have to worry about dealing with MPI, because Fonterra have people to do that. Fonterra create the systems and procedures that the farmers need to follow.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
I'm currently creating the systems and procedures and developing the equipment that will enable other small scale dairy farmers to comply with all the regulations, while also getting the daily tasks done quickly, efficiently and profitably. Doing it profitably is the hard bit.<br />
<br />
For small scale farming to be viable we need to:<br />
</span><br />
<ul><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<li>reduce the regulatory burden on individual farmers</li>
<li>co-ordinate fluctuating supply with fluctuating demand (don't underestimate this, it relates to profitability!)</li>
<li>ensure operators can get some time off</li>
</span></ul>
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<h3>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A network of micro dairy farmers</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
The idea is to create a network in which small scale farmers can "plug into".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
I believe a network of savvy young (or young at heart) farmers, can secure at least 5% of the New Zealand milk market.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll detail some rough numbers to give you an indication of how big the market is.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5% of the NZ fresh milk market equates to about 20.25 million litres of milk per year. If we assume that a cow will produce around 3,000 litres (low estimate, equivalent to 270 kgms) in a year. Then we would require 6,750 cows to be in milk at any one time. Which is the equivalent of around 8 Canterbury dairy farms.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we assume that a viable business requires 30 cows (not proven yet) then we would need</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">225 farmers. Maybe 50 cows will end up being an economic unit, in that case 135 farmers will be able to meet 5% of New Zealand's milk needs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How can 30-50 cows be an economic unit?</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The model I'm proposing is that the micro farmer is also the processor and the retailer, so they receive the total retail amount for their milk.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Below is a very rough and ready spreadsheet with some <b>ballpark</b> figures & estimates.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKKTMFjDWnyK1Egv7Lp5e3EeZqKThljq2hei_pAtb8y0WNNdFf0_7tx-d2y5d9VgktM2Ad925TfEglOHoyWdih2xB6v-1BcCF2gsQgzbLUnkn38o0wgpqY3l6SFmY26778Ofb6t_u0Cd0/s1600/Screenshot+2015-04-15+22.36.55.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKKTMFjDWnyK1Egv7Lp5e3EeZqKThljq2hei_pAtb8y0WNNdFf0_7tx-d2y5d9VgktM2Ad925TfEglOHoyWdih2xB6v-1BcCF2gsQgzbLUnkn38o0wgpqY3l6SFmY26778Ofb6t_u0Cd0/s1600/Screenshot+2015-04-15+22.36.55.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I still have no idea what the actual numbers are going to be.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My assumptions are conservative.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Production per cow is low, most dairy cows will be producing well over 400 kgms. I've assumed an eco cow in a dryland environment is much lower.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Revenue is also low, when you consider organic milk retails for $3.65/litre. Anchor blue top supermarket milk retails for $2.45. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've budgeted farm expenses at double that of the NZ dairy industry. I'm not sure what they will actually end up at. Staffing numbers will have a big impact on the final number. Remember there are no economies of scale in a small scale business.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Owner's drawings at $100,000. I want to attract our best young people, these people have options and the ability to earn good money elsewhere. For small scale eco farming to spread it has to be financially attractive. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I want to stress these are rough estimates, experience has shown me that you never make as much money as you think you will. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The reason for outlining these numbers is I want to show that <b>it's entirely possible to farm sustainably on a small scale and still make a good living.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So If you're interested in being a small scale eco dairy farmer, then watch this space. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Feel free to post a comment below or you can email me at glen dot herud at gmail dot com.</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com53tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-19435054160370510822015-02-25T07:54:00.004+13:002015-02-25T07:54:31.677+13:00We're In Business! Mobile Milking Approved & The Milk Is Flowing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMQJ2BDfLzQ_IDhpp1EARkqrqTzHi1LPYLjYuRGBWNDQCTnZYSvFNqTIYVS58bzNkq0vNTMuQNswCfQkOc3aAEnbLRwXKLK_zPj0BvUdL0dxq-KzZaaq7cgC0-dko5dMvgXZnLv_-2-rU/s1600/Screenshot+2015-02-21+23.15.43.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMQJ2BDfLzQ_IDhpp1EARkqrqTzHi1LPYLjYuRGBWNDQCTnZYSvFNqTIYVS58bzNkq0vNTMuQNswCfQkOc3aAEnbLRwXKLK_zPj0BvUdL0dxq-KzZaaq7cgC0-dko5dMvgXZnLv_-2-rU/s1600/Screenshot+2015-02-21+23.15.43.png" height="480" title="Milk Crates" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two weeks ago The Ministry For Primary Industries approved my Risk Management Programme!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's a huge achievement & it means that mobile milking & more specifically mobile milk processing is possible in New Zealand.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This now opens up a huge range of possibilities for us to develop some pretty radical and truly sustainable dairy farming systems.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I made my first delivery on the 10th February to our first and only customer <a href="http://www.c1espresso.co.nz/" target="_blank">C1 Espresso</a> in Christchurch.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I first approached C1 over a year ago & told them that I was setting up a sustainable milk company that supplies real milk which has not being homogenised or standardised. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sam, the owner said to me that they have their own coffee plantation in Samoa & they grow the fruit for their juices on the plantation as well. But he was not able to find a suitable whole milk supplier.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think we've solved that issue.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The plan now is to iron out any issues and slowly increase our supply.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My first 7 cows will be drying off shortly and we'll give them a 3 month break over the winter. Assuming the bull has done his job, these cows will calve again in August.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm about to buy 7-10 autumn calving cows. These cows will calve in April & May and will provide the milk through the winter and the spring period.</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-49663082566499032792015-02-22T22:47:00.001+13:002015-02-22T22:47:29.117+13:00My Interview on Radio New Zealands Country Life Programme<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOZFGywVN8qA1mtUAd3Zdm-K3XE5faPZHm8renKDX1Vd8z1faegEOJ8pkT8A1NQxVaTsnIh2Oui22ksRU2K9eOkI1KNlB6Kyh7zZ8OWfCxpPPOFDzkDbFfsG28HNjqNR_Fmnhtq4h1PnI/s1600/Screenshot+2015-02-22+22.44.21.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="mobile milking system" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOZFGywVN8qA1mtUAd3Zdm-K3XE5faPZHm8renKDX1Vd8z1faegEOJ8pkT8A1NQxVaTsnIh2Oui22ksRU2K9eOkI1KNlB6Kyh7zZ8OWfCxpPPOFDzkDbFfsG28HNjqNR_Fmnhtq4h1PnI/s1600/Screenshot+2015-02-22+22.44.21.png" height="476" title="Glen Herud Sustainable Dairy Farming" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I featured on Radio New Zealand Nationals Country Life programme on the weekend. You can hear it <a href="http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/countrylife/audio/20168085/milking-on-the-moove" target="_blank">here if you have 20</a> minutes spare.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I spoke about sustainable dairy, the mobile milking system, dryland dairy farming & why I think our dairy industry needs to move away from commodities and into branded product.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-35961100787267231352014-12-29T09:59:00.001+13:002014-12-29T09:59:25.723+13:00Is Raw Milk Safe? Some Pasteurisation Facts. Why I Won't Sell Raw Milk & What To Look For In A Raw Milk Supplier<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tragically <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/64089738/raw-milk-warning-after-illness-death-in-australia" target="_blank">a child in Australia has died</a> as a result of drinking contaminated raw milk. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So the raw milk vs pasteurised milk debate begins again. The comments on <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/10192181/Clear-risks-in-raw-milk-consumption-academic" target="_blank">this article</a> from June this year show the diverse opinions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I grew up drinking raw milk from the vat. We looked long and hard at selling raw milk. We looked at the issues and decided that raw milk was not for us. I'll explain why.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Is raw milk safe or not? </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The quick answer is, it can be safe, but it can turn bad very quickly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>First up, what is pasteurisation?</b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We boil contaminated water to kill bugs. Pasteurisation is simply heating the milk up to kill any bad bugs that may be present. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's not just milk that we pasteurise either, most freshly squeezed orange juice is pasteurised, just as egg products are too. We don't seem to have debates about those products.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The pasteurisation process is a combination of temperature and holding time. For example you can heat milk to 60 degrees and hold it there for 30 minutes (called batch or low temp long time) or you could heat it to 72 degrees and hold it there for 15 seconds (called high temp short time HTST).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've chosen a batch system where we heat the milk to 65.1 degrees and hold it there for 10 minutes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Does pasteurisation affect the milk?</b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes & no.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pasteurisation does not change the nutritional value of the milk such as fat, protein content etc. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But it does affect other aspects of the milk. The heat treatment process kills any "bad bugs" that are in the milk & it also kills any so called "good bugs" that are in the milk too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To check that milk has been pasteurised. We conduct a test called the Alkaline Phosphatase test. This test is looking for the </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alkaline Phosphatase enzyme. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;">If milk is properly pasteurised, then alkaline phosphatase is </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;">inactivated</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;">. If it is detected then the milk has not been pasteurised.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;">This indicates that the heat treatment is affecting some aspects of the milk. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"><b>Does it matter? </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There seems to be very little or no scientific evidence showing any benefit to drinking raw milk. But r</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">aw milk proponents will give examples of a friend or a family member who had an ailment that disappeared after swapping to raw milk. There's even books about how raw milk can cure autism</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. It hasn't made one bit of difference with my autistic son!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Either way both opinions will continue to exist.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I couldn't see any real evidence other than some anecdotal evidence that raw milk is better for you and that the pasteurisation process adversely affects the milk.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>People are confused about what happens to milk</b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What I did discover in my customer & market research, was that the public don't understand what pasteurisation, homogenisation and standardisation is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People try raw milk and they think "wow" that tastes so different to the supermarket milk. They conclude that it must be because it is raw milk. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fact is, you can take milk from the same batch, pasteurise half of it & conduct a taste test. The pasteurised milk will have exactly the same amount of cream on top and taste exactly the same as the raw milk. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People can't tell the difference.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What people can tell the difference of, is if the milk has been homogenised & standardised. It's those two processes that alter the look, texture & taste of the milk.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is a perception that you can only get full cream milk, straight from the cow, just like the old days. If it is raw milk. People think the pasteurisation process is what removes the cream or "waters it down". </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I couldn't see any rock solid reason to sell raw milk. But I could see potential risks to selling raw milk.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>How to ensure raw milk is safe</b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The food scientists will say that you simply cannot ensure that raw milk is safe. I think thats being a bit over the top. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After all I spent my whole childhood and teen years drinking milk from the cowshed vat. I also did a fair bit of milking and I remember accidentally dropping the teat cups into a fresh wet cow pat every once and a while and watching as the cups sucked it straight into the milk line. I survived.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Simply put, raw milk can be safe if it is produced to high standards and consumed in short order.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are a number of people who produce and sell raw milk properly. They are registered with the ministry for primary industries and have testing regimes & procedures in place.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What makes raw milk unsafe? </b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The same things that could make pasteurised milk unsafe. The obvious issues are big bad bugs like, Salmonella, E.coli, B. cereus, Listeria & Staph Aureus. Pasteurisation will kill or deplete these bugs if they are present.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If any of these organisms are found in raw or pasteurised milk, you would have to ask serious questions about the practices of the operator.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other things to consider are Coliform levels (fecal bacteria) , Aerobic plate counts (bacteria) & somatic cell count (measure of mastitis or infection in the udder).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The people who sell raw milk properly have Coliform, APC & SCC levels well below that of the average dairy farmer. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If raw milk is produced to high hygiene standards & has very low bacteria levels in it & it is kept at below 4 degrees C, then it will likely be safe. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Problems arise when the temperature is elevated above 4 degrees. Bacteria reproduce when it gets warm. If a bottle is left on the bench at room temperature, the bacteria can rapidly reproduce. Its possible that a bad bug is present, but in such low levels that it is not a problem. But it could reproduce to levels that then become a problem.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This applies to pasteurised milk too, but the difference is pasteurised milk will have lower bacteria levels in it and the bad bugs are heat sensitive and will have been killed. So any bacteria that are multiplying will not be harmful. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the reasons the New Zealand regulations only allow raw milk to be sold from the farm gate, is that transport from the farm and storage at a separate location, increase the risk that the milk is not kept chilled and it also extends the time in which the milk will be consumed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Long supply chains and raw milk are not an ideal mix.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What to look for in a raw milk supplier</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you want to buy raw milk in New Zealand then there are a number of farmers doing it. You want to buy milk from someone who has impeccable hygiene in the cowshed & healthy cows.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The things to look for are:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First of all look for their approval certificate from MPI. If they don't have one it means their systems have not been approved by MPI. They are breaking the law. Don't buy.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How tidy and clean are the surroundings? Is there rubbish laying around? </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is the cowshed clean, are the railings clean, has the yard been hosed clean, are the teat cups clean?</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ask to see the old milk filters. The milk filter catches any foreign matter. If its green, that shows that cow poos on the cows teats have mixed with the milk. In my experience</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> most commercial</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> dairies will have green milk filters at the end of milking.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Does the farmer have a large herd that supplies a milk company like Fonterra or is 100% of the milk going to be sold to the public as raw milk? </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is important because if a farmer is milking 400 cows and simply diverts some of the milk to sell to the public. It is unlikely that they are following the required hygiene requirements for safe raw milk. They won't be washing & disinfecting</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> the teats of all 400 cows.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ask about their milk testing regime, what are the bacteria levels that they aim for?</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>My Conclusion</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People love real milk that has not been heavily processed. Milk that has been standardised & homogenised is very different from real milk.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many people jump on the raw milk bandwagon simply because they like the taste of real milk. Most of these people will be quite happy to drink real milk that has been pasteurised.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't think there is any advantage in drinking raw milk over "real milk" that has only been pasteurised.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To me any advantage (if any) of raw milk is outweighed by the risks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm happy for people to drink raw milk if they want to, as people should be free to do as they please. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For this reason I support the current regulations that allow people to buy it from the farm gate. This allows people who really believe in raw milk to access it. But they have to be really keen to drive to the farm and collect it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm happy for the public health system to treat you if you get sick too. After all the tax payer funds the treatment of people doing silly things on motocross bikes etc.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I do have a problem with people feeding it to their young children. They are not able to fight off an infection as well as an adult.</span><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-40346860709317852492014-12-21T23:06:00.002+13:002014-12-22T09:42:26.094+13:00New Zealand's Food Safety Regulations Are Not Just About Food Safety, But Also International Trade & Politics<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New Zealand's food safety regulations are not simply about food safety. It's also about international trade & politics.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once I understood that, the regulations & procedures around dairy products begins to make sense to me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm going to be quite charitable to the regulators in this post.</span>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Biddys Story</b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last night Seven Sharp did a follow up story on Biddy and her micro cheese making business. You can view the 7 minute video here. <a href="http://bit.ly/1xRsYT8">http://bit.ly/1xRsYT8</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Biddys story is, she milks 3 cows and makes the milk into cheese. She has won international awards etc etc. 5 years ago she was featured on Country Calendar. This alerted the authorities to her small operation and she was required to meet the dairy regulations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Biddys story has popped up in the media on and off for the last five years. The current situation is she makes $33,000 per year from her cheese and she is required to have her risk management programme audited every year, which cost $4,500.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />In </span><a href="http://bit.ly/11e3ovL" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">my last blog post</a>, <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I outlined the reason it costs $4,500 to get a verifier to audit her every year. Basically there are only 2 companies in New Zealand who conduct these auditing services and there is not enough auditors. So people like Biddy and my self have to pay for the airfares & rental cars to get an auditor to visit. We also have to pay them $90/hour while they are travelling & well over $130/hour while they are on site or writing their report.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So Biddys getting away quite lightly at only $4,500!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Regulations are set to protect our international trade</b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After hearing a story like Biddys, the general response goes something like this "This is ridiculous, a little old lady with three cows has to go through all the same paperwork and inspections that a big processor does. Why doesn't the local council food inspectors do the inspections?" </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This sounds logical, after all if you wanted to bake apple pies & sell them. You can set up in your garage and the council inspector can sign off your premises. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But New Zealand doesn't make its money from apple pies, it makes it's money from milk.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our overseas markets are quite happy to find a reason to stop our dairy exports. One example is Fonterra's DCD scandal. <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/11/us-fonterra-milk-srilanka-idUSBRE97A02B20130811" target="_blank">Sri Lanka were quick to blacklist Fonterra products</a> & <a href="http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/govt-gathers-dcd-dossier-chinese-dw-135087" target="_blank">Chinese officials were all over MPI looking for a detailed risk assessment.</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We can find other food safety scares that have affected New Zealand dairy producers. There was Fonterra's <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px;">clostridium botulinum</span> scandal and before that they had the melamine infant formulas scandal too. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All three of these scandals cost NZ producers greatly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But hang on a minute, these "cock ups" were by Fonterra, New Zealands largest producer not the Biddy's of the world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can't actually find an example of a small scale producer causing the NZ dairy industry to suffer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Either way, officials from the European Union, China & the US etc scrutinise our food safety systems and look for areas of weakness or potential weakness. Often its not food safety at the forefront of their mind, but rather international trade as their focus. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>It would appear that, they use our system as a type of tariff or at least a way to leverage more bargaining power.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So poor old MPI has to juggle the political & trade requirements while also trying to make the system simple for Biddy and I.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a result, our trading partners demand a robust system with checks and balances. The problem is those checks and balances cost money.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In my last post, I proposed that we should get rid of the private verifiers and make verification the role of MPI. The problem with that scenario is MPI then set the standards, evaluates businesses risk management programmes and also conducts the auditing of those businesses.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It could be argued that this system would lack any independent checks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Who knows what goes on in the Wellington office of MPI. We don't know what the Chinese or the europeans demand of them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>But what I do know, is that whenever I talk to anybody from Eurofins, AsureQuality or MPI the conversion very quickly turns away from the practical hygiene issues and onto the requirements of the a certain standard or regulation.</b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's these regulations that have been audited by our trading partners & found to be acceptable. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MPI are worried that if, a small producer stuffs up & causes a food safety breach, the risk is that the standards & regulations that make up our food safety system may look to have failed. Therefore opening us up for more scrutiny from other countries who may be looking for any reason to halt our exports.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Much of the battle I am having with the Ministry for Primary Industries is not about actual food safety, but more about everybody covering their backs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More on that later</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-30998028707598914132014-11-17T23:34:00.002+13:002014-11-17T23:35:40.417+13:00Is Our Food Safety System as Strong as We Think. Private Sector vs Public Sector<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is our food safety system as robust as we think it is? And are we better served by the public or private sector?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last week I <a href="http://milkingonthemoove.blogspot.co.nz/2014/11/mobile-milking-system-bureaucrats.html" target="_blank">blogged about my issues getting the mobile cowshed evaluated</a> by inspectors.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The way the food safety system works, is the government agency via The Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) set the food standards. When a company sets up a food business, the verification services are provided by the private sector.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In New Zealand we have AsureQuality, which is a state owned enterprise, but it operates as a for profit business. There seems to be only two other providers, Eurofins & SGS in NZ who can offer dairy evaluation services.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The problem I have struck is there are not enough staff within these three businesses to evaluate and verify my business.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Lack of food safety specialists</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've spoken to quite a few people in MPI, AsureQuality & Eurofins over the last few months. They all say that the demand for their services have boomed in the last 2 years. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Fonterra botulism</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> issue has absorbed a lot of manpower, but there is also a large number of new dairy businesses starting or expanding. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are a number of large dairy processors expanding, like Fonterra's Edendale & Darfield plants. But there is also a number of new factories (many backed by Chinese money) popping up across the country.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is also a boom in the numbers of small producers like myself setting up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As an aside; I found it interesting that there are only 3 people in New Zealand who can assess dairy heat treatment facilities. The same person who assesses massive milk powder plants is also the guy who assesses my 300 litre/day pasteuriser.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All these things combined have meant that the demand for their services has increased dramatically.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Why not just employ more people?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They are trying to, the problem is these roles are quite specialised, they can't just put an ad in the paper.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've noticed almost all of the people I have dealt with, from food safety consultants, evaluators and assessors all seem to be over 50 years old. These people have been in the industry for over 30 years. Many are on the verge of retirement.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Where are the young people?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It seems they don't stick around. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One person commented </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"we used to employ graduates, but they all seemed to leave after 1-1.5 years. The problem is it takes us 2 years to train a graduate to the point where they can operate unsupervised."</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I haven't received my bill yet for my pasteuriser inspection, but I believe the hourly rate that I pay for the time the inspector is travelling is $90/hour. While they are inspecting and writing the report, the hourly rate is over $130.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Upon hearing the rates they charge, I thought there must be some serious money to be made in dairy verification.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes there is, but at the same time no there isn't.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It appears that for some companies, dairy verification services are just too hard to provide. I've come across at least one company that no longer does dairy evaluation because their evaluator left and its just too hard to replace them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Private sector vs public sector</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />This has got me thinking, is New Zealand's food safety system best served by the private sector?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My reason for asking this is. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A private company needs to make a profit. If a company employs a verifier and spends considerable resources training them, they want to be sure there's enough work for them so the new employee can pay for themselves. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It appears to me that these companies take a "wait and see" approach before committing to employing more staff. This make perfect sense to any business person.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meanwhile, the countries food businesses are being held up by a bottleneck in the form of insufficient number of inspectors & other services.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What about the public sector? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, MPI is able to conduct evaluations, but</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> "we don't want to be seen to be competing with the private sector". </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before MPI will step in they need to be sure that none of the private sector providers are able to provide the services.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In my case, MPI have said they will step in & evaluate my RMP because the private sector businesses are unable to do it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wonder how larger export businesses are faring? I'm sure I'm not the only one battling these sorts of delays?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Efficiency vs Resilience</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This has got me thinking. We always hear about companies and departments focusing on efficiency. But maybe it's in the best interests of the country to have some inefficient departments. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The more efficient you become the less resilient you are. An efficient department is one where the minimum number of people are meeting the required standards. But as soon as something unexpected happens like botulism</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. You find yourself stretched</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and it takes time to catch up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It appears to me that the combination of Fonterra's botulism</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> scare and the ever increasing demands of our export partners is stretching our food safety system.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I have no hard facts to prove this, but my little experience with the food safety system makes me </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">wonder if our system is really as strong as we think it is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maybe its best to have MPI overstaffed a bit, with the experienced staff investing in training the next generation of food safety professionals.</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Even if they can't justify bringing these new staff on at the moment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The payback may be in 10 years time.</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-48619367246785039472014-11-08T23:02:00.000+13:002014-11-08T23:02:37.226+13:00Mobile Milking System, Bureaucrats & Regulations<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3-cYYbEp-GkkRdRZIn0GinWXGq4UMhT9H13H6dbRAqjYtP7Ik60Zh6WcN0-PJu6nm1qJBJi5O8N4NrgCMj_2whxct21txyLQIWVkExLlLAzErh2vAMNm1gHe3rJ4m8m8gxizx-t3smSY/s1600/2014-10-07+12.48.15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3-cYYbEp-GkkRdRZIn0GinWXGq4UMhT9H13H6dbRAqjYtP7Ik60Zh6WcN0-PJu6nm1qJBJi5O8N4NrgCMj_2whxct21txyLQIWVkExLlLAzErh2vAMNm1gHe3rJ4m8m8gxizx-t3smSY/s1600/2014-10-07+12.48.15.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I decided to actually build the mobile cowshed & process my own milk, I knew that the regulatory requirements would be the hardest part.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New Zealand trades on our food safety reputation. We need to protect that reputation. I'm aware that even small scale producers have the potential to put our whole reputation at risk too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With this in mind, I delved into all the regulations that a mobile cowshed would have to meet. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The regulations for the farm dairy side of things are in a document named <i>NZCP1</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People wanting to process milk will also need to know all the requirements of <i>DCP1, DCP2, DCP3 & DCP4. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is also the <i>"Heat Treatment Code of Practice"</i> & the <i>"Operational Guideline: Dairy Heat Treatment"</i> documents that need to be followed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After wading through those documents, I had almost lost the will to live. But I somehow managed to get through</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> the <i>"Operational Guideline: Dairy HACCP plans" </i>& <i>"</i></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Operational Guideline:</i></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i> Dairy Processing Premises"</i> as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An important point is, if someone wanted to use a mobile cowshed to supply a dairy company, they would only need to comply with NZCP1. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over the last 2 years I've tried to design a mobile system which I think will meet all these requirements. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I met with a number of people in AsureQuality & I had an experienced food safety consultant look over my plans. This was to ensure that what I had planned to build will meet the regulations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But you never really know how it will go until you actually try. So I just had to bite the bullet & do it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Risk Management Programmes</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyone wanting to milk cows need to operate under a risk management programme (RMP) that is registered with the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI). For example, all Fonterra farmers operate under Fonterra's RMP. Fonterra outline these requirements in their <a href="http://www.epa.govt.nz/resource-management/NSP000028/NSP000028_Fonterra%20Co-operative%20Group%20Limited%20and%20DairyNZ%20Evidence%20Charlotte%20Rutherford%20-%20Attachment%20Two%20-%20v1.pdf" target="_blank">suppliers handbook.</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I am my own dairy company I need to have my own RMP for the farm dairy & an RMP for milk processing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MPI provide template RMP's on their website. The templates are essentially a "fill in the boxes" document.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I submitted my template RMP's to the Ministry of Primary Industries and waited.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eventually the Ministry of Primary Industries responded to my risk management programme application with the following:</span><br />
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"Construction of yard and races – photos show gates directly onto the paddock. The requirement is for a concrete or similar impervious yard, and the mobile milking trailer would need to be sited on a concrete pad."</i></span></span></blockquote>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"Our opinion is that a mobile milking unit such as you propose are likely to not meet the requirements. Some modifications to your unit may be required such as having it permanently located or alternatively re-locatable to pre-approved sites where suitable facilities such as a concrete pad,........."</i></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A concrete pad, kind of defeats the purpose of the mobile system.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we take a look at the requirements of NZCP1.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>NZCP1 </b></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>6.1 Floors, Yard Surfaces and Races </b></span></i> </blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All the floors of a farm dairy (i.e. in the milking, milk receiving, and milk storage areas, yards </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and associated storerooms and offices) must be made of concrete or a similar impervious </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">material. These floors and yards must be uniformly graded, be able to be readily cleaned </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">after every milking, and have a fall to allow drainage to approved outlet points.</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The intent of "impervious material" floors, "readily cleaned" & "have a fall to allow drainage" is to ensure that effluent and waste water is not flooding all over the place & causing a smelly health & environmental hazard.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have designed the system to ensure that all effluent, waste water & wash water is contained within the cowshed and drained to a single point where it is spread with a sprinkler. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But we obviously don't have a concrete holding yard, which the code requires.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instead of a concrete holding yard I am proposing an alternative method of ensuring waiting cows do not create an environmental & health risk.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Basicly I milk a small herd of cows and we move after every milking. So the cows are not waiting in the same area day after day and making a mess. We also ensure that the cows waiting to be milked do not wait more than 30 minutes. We also ensure the cows wait on new grass, this way they graze happily while they wait.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These measures combined ensure very little effluent is produced & we will meet the intentions of the regulations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm confident that the mobile system will meet the requirements, it just a matter of getting it through the official channels & that is what is taking the time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MPI have said:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"For alternatives to be considered a RMP would need to be developed specific to the nature of operations and these must be evaluated by an <b>MPI recognised dairy evaluator</b> then submitted to MPI for registration"</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's important to note the difference between an evaluator, verifier & an assessor. I have already had the cowshed approved by an dairy <b>assessor</b>, these are the same people who conduct dairy shed inspections on dairy farms. But I need an <b>evaluator </b>who seems to be the next level up from an assessor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The problem is getting a "dairy evaluator" to inspect my cowshed & RMP. There simply is not enough people to conduct the work. Everyone in this field is flat out busy. I can't even get these guys to answer emails or return phone calls.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These evaluators are the same people who inspect the major dairy companies & I suppose I'm at the bottom of the pecking order.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had anticipated</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> MPI may respond with the requirement for a specific RMP.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I had spent the previous 4 months writing a custom RMP (consisting of over 7,000 words) that would cover both the farm dairy & the milk processing operations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would have submitted my custom RMP immediately, but I'm waiting for an approved evaluator to inspect the system & a verifier to inspect my pasteuriser.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meanwhile, I'm milking my cows and spending money and going broke very quickly!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can't sell my milk until MPI approve my RMP.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can see a scenario where I submit everything again to MPI and they take their 20 days to respond, where by they ask a few further questions and then promptly close for Christmas!</span><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-72823653660664895552014-10-21T23:54:00.000+13:002014-10-21T23:54:44.131+13:00Testing The Mobile Cowshed<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's been a busy month testing out the mobile cowshed. I took this video about a month ago & I have only now found the time to put it up. I've been getting a few requests for a video.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's just a quick look at how the system works. I'm still in the testing phase & we are ironing out all the little issues. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the moment I'm only milking 8 cows & the neighbours are taking the milk to feed to their calves.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can't start selling our milk until I have been approved by the ministry of primary industries. That journey is turning out to be a bit of a drama, but I'll write about that another day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The cows were still a little bit jittery when I took the video. The buggers wouldn't walk on, but they have calmed down quite a bit over the last month.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/S6t1U56diy0" width="640"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-43927586997481294782014-09-13T23:28:00.000+12:002014-09-13T23:28:52.907+12:00We're Mobile Milking!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been milking for 3 weeks now and it's been a hectic 3 weeks. I've finally got a moment for a quick update.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm really happy with how the cowshed is operating. The second hand milking plant runs really well, the cows are walking on to the cowshed happily & I've learned how to manoeuvre the cowshed through gateways and up and down hills, while keeping both gateways & the cowshed in one piece.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOSd_h1cFR687Jfv25vzuTA1slEJQCXJyThHGSUQh5LqVad037EeGK_H2H_TOyVZ_OCiwMpjsRUyOuvSaKt5ZY784Zin8SC7rmr8wEtOI2BdHMd9mKbAHGDfP6h4QCxf26MlgSwaw_nIE/s1600/+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Mobile Milking" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOSd_h1cFR687Jfv25vzuTA1slEJQCXJyThHGSUQh5LqVad037EeGK_H2H_TOyVZ_OCiwMpjsRUyOuvSaKt5ZY784Zin8SC7rmr8wEtOI2BdHMd9mKbAHGDfP6h4QCxf26MlgSwaw_nIE/s1600/+.jpg" height="480" title="Mobile Milking" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's funny how over the last year I have thought about how to design various parts of the cowshed & pondered every little detail. Yet it only took 10 minutes of the first milking for me realise I had made mistakes with the layout of equipment etc.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll be honest, the first milking did not go to plan. I have bought 7 Heifer cows. They had just calved and they have never being milked before let alone on a mobile trailer with no yards to contain them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wised up for the second milking & came prepared with some gates, that I set up as a makeshift yard. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I managed to get the cows on to the platform & milk them. Although they didn't always face the right way.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6NB33EqkKR1Q6vD734IRQ8lc-jzFGa_F91qi2a4mG-WTAVRJPW1-qdfJz936-lHwGvZ4p6lsuwUtk7CAMWtBxz9kuSJcVwBv9qEae7G_Tji1I0zmQiOv16KEnSCw6j8EG1cspAaaV4ho/s1600/2014-08-23+10.44.37.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Mobile Milking" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6NB33EqkKR1Q6vD734IRQ8lc-jzFGa_F91qi2a4mG-WTAVRJPW1-qdfJz936-lHwGvZ4p6lsuwUtk7CAMWtBxz9kuSJcVwBv9qEae7G_Tji1I0zmQiOv16KEnSCw6j8EG1cspAaaV4ho/s1600/2014-08-23+10.44.37.jpg" height="480" title="Mobile Milking" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The cows are now used to the cowshed and the system. Cows love routine, so I've kept everything the same. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I turn up at 9am every morning, the cowshed is always in the next days break of grass. I run a portable electric fence around the cows to stop them tearing around the paddock. After milking they always exit the cowshed onto a new break of grass with a bin full of meal.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I arrive the cows are usually waiting for me at the entrance of the cowshed. I've done away with the gates that I used as temporary yards now & I just use portable electric fences at the entrance.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEichfqLUU6-kLq_0ZiWgkgtl2MZbSy-gWKfHxGLGiQp8In6HZ8AHJvX2LwRdep-ELhlWMj4KyPZ6KALy0NYs6W2RwYv6DI8X_YI8zqJpvcAYY99K30J4S37FGlaAu-fuaUG1sCkxMWM0j0/s1600/2014-08-31+09.18.58.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Mobile Milking Parlour" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEichfqLUU6-kLq_0ZiWgkgtl2MZbSy-gWKfHxGLGiQp8In6HZ8AHJvX2LwRdep-ELhlWMj4KyPZ6KALy0NYs6W2RwYv6DI8X_YI8zqJpvcAYY99K30J4S37FGlaAu-fuaUG1sCkxMWM0j0/s1600/2014-08-31+09.18.58.jpg" height="480" title="Mobile Milking Parlour" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm not able to sell any of milk at the moment as I haven't got my food safety paperwork sorted yet (thats a long & painful story).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm just putting the finishing touches on the processing room & the pasteuriser over the next week or so & hopefully we will be selling milk in the not too distant future.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLplhyviuNAJtbWmxPyLJJhgvDAe8D4-4Gylxkz5WkhDRIizlPdRJxaIh27fh8WuM5MH_gXeCGwIbesX6mG_RL3-vZvSfGLDmsk1fNfkjK4Q0AJyURINaiS0U4Sd4zzVclAEydcKtSJpQ/s1600/2014-08-27+10.06.43.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLplhyviuNAJtbWmxPyLJJhgvDAe8D4-4Gylxkz5WkhDRIizlPdRJxaIh27fh8WuM5MH_gXeCGwIbesX6mG_RL3-vZvSfGLDmsk1fNfkjK4Q0AJyURINaiS0U4Sd4zzVclAEydcKtSJpQ/s1600/2014-08-27+10.06.43.jpg" height="480" title="Mobile Milking" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-78046435884495239362014-07-26T14:23:00.000+12:002014-07-26T14:23:10.805+12:00Grow Movie- A Great Documentary Which Outlines Young Urbanites Turning To Farming <span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I watched the <a href="http://www.growmovie.net/" target="_blank">Grow Movie</a> the other night. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's a documentary that tells the story of how young urban people are being attracted to farming.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The movie follows a few young farmers in the US state of Georgia. We learn how they found themselves farming & why they love it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most of the people were highly educated with degrees in finance, engineering & soil science etc, but they have chosen the small scale rural lifestyle.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The documentary focuses on, what we in New Zealand we would call "market gardeners". </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/27050341?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=c9ff23" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="640"></iframe> <br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/27050341">GROW! Movie Trailer (2:09)</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/anthonymasterson">Anthony-Masterson</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two things stood out for me:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most of these people started with no knowledge of growing vegetables or farming. Most had no money or land. But they started working with a farmer and in some cases simply agreed to work in exchange for accommodation</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and knowledge. One thing led to another and they now run their own farming businesses.</span><br />
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I found it interesting how one person explained that he got into farming because of his ideological beliefs. He said he now had to balance his ideology with the need to run a viable business.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I found that interesting considering, there are many people in New Zealand giving farmers plenty of advice (including me). </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's one thing to talk about how you should farm & another thing to actually do it and stay viable.</span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-26757419330989860072014-07-12T15:22:00.002+12:002014-07-12T20:51:35.867+12:00Don't Laugh At Wheedle, Good On Them For Having A Crack<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/nbr-rich-lister-neil-graham-takes-10-million-bath-wheedle-closes" target="_blank">The demise of the trading web site Wheedle, is no real surprise.</a> The web sites aim was to take on trade me which is the New Zealand version of ebay.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm certainly no business expert, but I've been thinking about it this morning as I did some housework, and there are two aspects of the businesses failure that have crossed my mind.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Firstly, lots of people are bagging Wheedle and its founder Neil Graham. Neil didn't need to start Wheedle, he founded the <a href="http://www.mainfreight.com/nz/en/nz-home.aspx" target="_blank">Mainfreight transport company</a> which is an international success. He's worth an estimated $75 Million, so money is not a motivation. He's also no longer a young man & he has had health problems.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But he did it anyway, he used his own money and </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">he took a risk and he gave it a crack. That deserves respect in my book.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm sure that the reason he is successful is because he has backed himself and taken risks in the past.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The second point, is that this is another example of a successful person trying to start a business in an area that they are not experts in. Neil's background is transport & logistics. I think a technology company is very different to a trucking company. The things that make a tech business successful are very different to what makes a trucking company successful.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some signs of this are that Wheedle seemed to rely on traditional marketing like sponsoring the Crusaders rugby team and TV adverts. When we look at successful tech companies, they don't do traditional advertising. You don't see Twitter, Facebook, <a href="https://www.xero.com/nz/home/?t=b" target="_blank">Xero</a> or <a href="http://www.vendhq.com/?utm_expid=30853408-9.JRkoj7rvTPm43T_vq0A9eg.0&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.nz%2F" target="_blank">Vend </a>advertising on TV, radio or sponsoring</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> a sports team.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10381562" target="_blank">Suzanne Paul is another example of a very successful person who turned to a different area of business</a>. She made her fortune via informercials & sales but then took her money and invested it into a tourism venture which didn't end well & she lost the lot. She is now back doing what she does best, which is informercials.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Richard Branson is a unique example of someone who has been successful in many different categories, such as music, airlines, trains and mobile services to name just a few. It would appear that he is an exception.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The third aspect I find interesting is that most people don't have a problem with the current online auction site. Wheedle were promising lower sales fees. Saving a few dollars on my trade is not enough of a motivation for me to change.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wheedle wasn't different enough.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I think it is great to see people backing themselves and taking risks but I think it's really important to stick to your area of expertise & if you are going to take on the big players in the market, you really need to be substantially different & offer something really unique.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-75806002634297251312014-07-07T23:44:00.000+12:002014-07-08T21:57:33.360+12:00You Can Afford A House in NZ, Despite What People Say!<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business-editors-picks/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501981&objectid=11287886" target="_blank">This article, about young people investing property got me thinking.</a> </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ve had a few conversations with people
who I’d describe as being middle class New Zealanders. They are earning around
$100,000/year, yet they claim they can’t afford to buy a house.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we talk it over further, it becomes
clear that they actually can’t afford a house of the required standard in the
desirable area of the major city in which they live.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s pretty hard to buy your first house in
Queenstown, Christchurch, Auckland or Wellington, especially if you are not prepared to
live in the cheaper suburbs. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Priorities</b></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It occurs to me that people have priorities
in their lives and when they say “we can’t afford to buy a house”, they really
mean that they are not prepared to make the sacrifices required to get into
home ownership.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Some Examples</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have 3 friends who live in & around
Rangiora. All of these people have average jobs, they all have
young children, all of the wives have chosen not to work & instead stay at home
with the children. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They all own their homes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One friend was in the army for 6 years and
left as a private, he now works in forestry driving a digger. He and his wife
bought a small slightly rundown house in Rangiora, which they live in. They
continued to save his average wage (by NZ standards) until he had a deposit
& bought another house around the corner, which he rents. I
estimate these two houses are worth $250,000.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He’s now looking for his third house.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another friend drives a forklift has a
special needs child. His wife looks after their child during the day. They bought an average house in Kaiapoi right next to the
motorway. It’s a comfortable house but nothing flash. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My third friend is a builder/hammer hand,
he has 3 kids which his wife home schools. They managed to buy a house in
Rangiora when they were first married. They recently sold it & purchased a
larger house on a lifestyle block.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All these couples bought very average
properties with flaws. For instance, situated right next to a motorway or slightly
rundown or had a very small section. But they did it and they have gained
financially as the properties have increased in value.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I just did a property search on trademe. It showed 485 properties in Canterbury under $250,000.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I bought my first house in my early
twenties.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was working as a dairy farm worker in
2001 earning $30,000/year when I saved $5,400 and purchased a property for
$54,000 in Invercargill. I rented it out and it was cash-flow positive.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 2004 my wife and I cobbled together
$10,000 & purchased a house for $100,000, which we lived in. It wasn't located in a great area & it had a shared driveway. We spent the next 2 years
renovating it ourselves. We sold it five years later & more than doubled
our money on that property.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6YkCtuvWlHYgKyp0GqZrpcYtSaZRF80hMS-Wxf6o8zwe7zhOCiRWlo5wdgoNbFQQbiVyCXC31WM0SucDRLuyMBukU-ufiYeFW_sgpduJH_BEfuz_7IsP-MnAoawpwkP68tjv5WonBAAs/s1600/DSC00373.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6YkCtuvWlHYgKyp0GqZrpcYtSaZRF80hMS-Wxf6o8zwe7zhOCiRWlo5wdgoNbFQQbiVyCXC31WM0SucDRLuyMBukU-ufiYeFW_sgpduJH_BEfuz_7IsP-MnAoawpwkP68tjv5WonBAAs/s1600/DSC00373.JPG" height="640" width="425" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Renovating the laundry</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It sounds so easy just writing these
examples down now. But the one thing all these people have in common is they
sacrificed things in order to be able to buy their properties.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In my early twenties, my friends were
buying $12,000 motorcross bikes & spending their weekends racing, others
were borrowing money to buy $20,000 cars, while others were travelling the
world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I missed out on all of that. My wife and I
lived a very simple lifestyle. Most weekends were spent painting or hanging gib
board or simply staying at home as we had no cash.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do regret not travelling and my wife
reminds me constantly about how unacceptable it was to not have a real honeymoon
& rather use the money to buy our first house. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She’s right though; it was
unacceptable to not have a honeymoon. I’ll have to make it up to her. I was so focussed on getting ahead.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Money gives you options</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you are young you have no money and I
think all money does is give you options. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you have no money you have
limited options and you have to focus your limited resources.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s totally possible for young families to
buy a house in New Zealand. The question is are people prepared to make the
sacrifices required?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I look at the people who tell me they
can’t buy a house, I notice that they all eat out at restaurants regularly, there’s lots of money being
spent of manicures and salons & plenty of nights out on the town & shopping trips to Australia.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The same thing applies to farming. I saw my
parents move from Zimbabwe with nothing in there 30s, working as farm workers
to buying their first farm 11 years later. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My first employer started dairy farming at
17 and was sharemilking 400 cows at 28 and at 40 years of age owns a large
dairy farm, among other things.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are all examples of ordinary people with
ordinary intellect just getting on with it and getting ahead. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s all about priorities, attitude & peoples willingness to do what is required.</span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm developing a pot belly. But its not a priority for me to get rid of it and I'm certainly not prepared to make the sacrifices required to get rid of it. So, I can't complain about not having a flat stomach, if I'm not prepared to do what is required to get flat abs.</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-36073778291759384652014-05-31T08:40:00.002+12:002014-05-31T08:40:49.983+12:00Quick Video Of The Mobile Cowshed<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A quick video of the mobile cowshed & a look inside the milk processing room.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/JDpFPRBIIVU?rel=0" width="640"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-88631672799293514112014-05-30T13:43:00.000+12:002014-05-30T13:43:14.209+12:00The Reasoning Behind My Micro Dairy Business<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the next 2 months, I'll begin milking a small herd of 15 cows. I'll sell the milk direct to the public. I'll milk my herd on leased lifestyle blocks, using my mobile cowshed.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://milkingonthemoove.blogspot.co.nz/2014/05/why-bother-with-mobile-milking-system.html" target="_blank">In my last blog post </a>I outlined 5 points that I
wanted to achieve with my new business.</span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Create a truly environmentally sustainable
dairy business</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Create farming opportunities for young
people that also provided a great lifestyle</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Keep control of the value chain</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Offer real unaltered whole milk to the
public</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Concentrate on building a brand rather than
owning land</span></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's taken a few years of thinking about the
issues and I wanted to briefly outline how I have come to settle on my current system.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-NZ"><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Question Everything</b></span><br />
<span lang="EN-NZ"><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I started off by questioning every aspect of traditional
dairy farming.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I asked:</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why do we do what we currently do? </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why do we need
irrigated land? </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why do we use ryegrass & clover pastures? </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why do we milk
twice a day? </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why do we need a big concrete cowshed? </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do we really need laneways? </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why are their less small herds around now?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I investigated dairy farm cost structures
and profitability.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I asked why do farmers supply dairy companies like Fonterra
or Synlait? </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How do people progress in the dairy industry? </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How much money do dairy farmers make?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I questioned what we know about the
environmental aspect of farming.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How exactly are water ways affected by
farming?</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How do nitrates work? </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Where do the nitrates come from? </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why do we deal
with effluent the way we do now? </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is Phosphate & how does effect our
effect the environment?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Environmental System</b></span><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I started with a blank sheet of paper. The
first priority was to design an environmentally sound dairy system. I’d worry
about how to make it profitable later.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The research tells us that nitrates are the
greatest pollutant caused by dairy farming in New Zealand. Turns out that the cows
urine patch is the biggest contributor to nitrate leaching by a long shot. I
learnt that the wetter the soil is, the more leaching occurred. Large amounts
of nitrate are leached over the winter months. I discovered that plant root systems
are the greatest absorbers of nitrates. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I thought, if we forget everything we
know about farming and just designed a system that would leach no nitrate. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What would that farm look like?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We’d want to reduce the amount of urine on
our paddocks, which means we want a lower stocking rate. We don’t want our cows
on wet soils. So wintering cows on crops on a small area of land (as is the
usual practice) is not going to work for us. We also want to use un-irrigated
land because it leaches much less nitrate. We want plants/crops with deep roots
to absorb the nitrate, which means ryegrass & clover pastures probably
won’t work for us. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All these points put together basically
mean, we would leach very little nitrogen. But more land is needed & that
land will produce less because it’s not irrigated. Our wintering & feed
costs will be a lot higher too.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s pretty clear that this farming system
would not work financially, if we supplied Fonterra or another dairy company, we simply would
not be profitable.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Make the farm fit around my desired lifestyle </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With the environmental aspects sorted, the second
priority was how could we design a dairy farming system that I wanted to work
in and that suited the lifestyle I wanted to lead. I assumed that if I could
achieve this goal, then it would also be attractive to the best of today’s
young people. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are lots of brilliant young farmers
out there, but we need more. Many great people are choosing other occupations and agriculture has to compete for good people.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So again I questioned every aspect of the
daily duties on the farm.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why do we start milking so early in the morning? </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why
do we milk twice a day? </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What activities take the most time? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Milking the cows took the most time and you
can easily spend over an hour herding cows to the cowshed each milking.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So milking once a day milking is an
attractive option. The research shows that most cows milked once a day were
producing 19% less milk, but had less animal health & feed costs. Trading
19% less milk for about 40% less work still feels like a winning situation to
me. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the main attraction to once a day
milking, is that dropping the afternoon milking gives you much more options for
giving staff (& me) more time off. It allows much greater flexibility on when the jobs get done.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While milking once a day may help with a
better lifestyle, the other half of the solution to attracting young people to
farming is financial opportunities. This system had to be achievable and in reach of young (& cash poor) people. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Basically it needs to be cheap to set up.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Attainable to young people</b></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I concluded that it needs to be small scale
system. It's easier to find the money to buy 20 cows than 200 cows. Also when
you have a small herd the amount of equipment needed is greatly reduced.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Land is by far the biggest expense when
setting up a farm. The land required for a small 20 cow operation would cost at
least $1,000,000. Which is hardly in reach of your average young person.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My solution is to lease land. But you are
hardly going to build a small cowshed on land you don’t own. This is where the
mobile system becomes important. If I could build a fully contained cowshed
that is totally mobile, then <b>milking off leased land becomes an option</b>. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-NZ">My research into dairy farming financials showed that interest paid on land was one of the biggest expenses on a farm. By
leasing land rather than buying it, I could save a lot of money. Which could
offset the extra costs & lower production caused by our no nitrate leaching
measures.</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-NZ"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I thought about this more, the mobile
system looked like it could save a lot of time on farm as well. For instance, I
would not have to spend time herding the cows to the cowshed as I’ll milk the
cows in the paddock. No concrete yard to clean, which saves time & water.
No need for a conventional effluent system, which is one less cost. No need for
lane ways or permanent fencing either.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At this point I had a rough idea of how I
could farm dairy cows and leach very little nitrate. I worked out that a mobile
cowshed could be achieved & the mobile system made it possible to set up a small scale herd on
leased land for a relatively low amount of money.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Who will buy the milk?</b></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now it was time to ask the question, who
will buy my milk & how can we make it financially viable? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From my research, it was clear that there
are a number of people who would love to buy a sustainable or eco brand of
milk. This is a brand that can promise its farming practises do not adversely affect the environment. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The public are aware of the environmental impacts that
dairy farming has on our water ways & a good number of people say they
would support a brand that stood for more eco dairy farming practices.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is also a growing number of people
who are concerned about what is happening to our food in these modern times.
The whole food movement is growing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are clearly people
would buy my milk if they had the opportunity. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Could I make it pay though? </b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The following
thoughts were going through my head; </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All the trends are for farms to get bigger
and have greater scale & I’m proposing going smaller! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On farm costs have been increasing which
is putting pressure on farm profitability. I’m proposing even higher costs
combined with production drops in order to meet my self imposed environmental & lifestyle standards.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A trip to the supermarket showed that 1
litre of Organic milk was retailing for $3.40, 1 litre of Anchor or Meadow fresh
blue top sells for $2.45.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If I could receive $2.50/ litre for my
milk, then I could make it work financially. I worked out that if I could keep
the money that the farmer & the processor get, then I could break even. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But
breaking even is not a very sustainable goal. I would also need to retain the
30-40% margin the the retailer receives in order to make the business viable.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, I would need to be the farmer, the
processor, the delivery man & the retailer in order to be profitable.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>In conclusion:</b></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've just described, very simply the thought process
that occurred over a couple of years that has brought me to where I am now.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hope that I have found a way for us to
milk cows sustainably that is attractive & within reach of young people & profitable too.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-86229336339246904132014-05-09T17:06:00.000+12:002014-05-09T17:06:02.400+12:00Why Bother With A Mobile Milking System?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvKi2jNYGn6dHUeVyQr_3DjSN7_y86cGKHvHKWQvGJjaGk9SorL7MRGJ8fllAT9pCQfK2Vo27c7xjt68WLWy2yqYyCX2QQOxGe_yzGTM7hcn6tSewPn67FohbrtIFIMu5bgEHa3xMZWMI/s1600/Mobile+Cowshed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvKi2jNYGn6dHUeVyQr_3DjSN7_y86cGKHvHKWQvGJjaGk9SorL7MRGJ8fllAT9pCQfK2Vo27c7xjt68WLWy2yqYyCX2QQOxGe_yzGTM7hcn6tSewPn67FohbrtIFIMu5bgEHa3xMZWMI/s1600/Mobile+Cowshed.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, I've finally got my act together and started building my mobile cowshed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The question I get asked a lot is, why? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are plenty of opportunities to go dairy farming. I could go lower order sharemilking or contract milking. Those two options don’t require a huge amount of money & I've got the experience to do a good job of it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But there are certain aspects of the dairy industry that don’t fit with me. I'm not saying that these aspects are wrong. But for me, I want something different.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I've spent the last few years thinking about how I could create the perfect farming business that suited my family and my beliefs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I’d like to explain what my 5 issues are. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once people understand the 5 issues it becomes a bit clearer as to why I'm building a milk business based on a mobile cowshed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Real milk</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I left the farm & moved to town, I was surprised by how different the supermarket milk was compared to the milk I got from the vat every morning, while living on the farm. Any dairy farmer will tell you that the milk we buy in the super markets is quite different from the milk that comes straight from the cow.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Virtually all milk brands in New Zealand put their milk through a number of processes. The result is milk that isn't really like the real thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There has been a lot of demand from the public for raw milk. It’s common to hear people rave about how great raw milk tastes etc. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the difference in the milk is not because it's raw, but because its real milk that has not being heavily processed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s crazy that New Zealand produces so much milk, but it’s so hard for kiwis to buy real milk.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I’ll give people the opportunity to buy milk straight from the cow. I’m going to simply milk our cows, gently pasteurise the milk and then deliver it to the public. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Brand is better than land</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can generalise by saying the farming business model in New Zealand is to, borrow heaps of money & buy a farm. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You then need to farm it like crazy to pay the interest bill. Farmers then make a small return of about 4% of asset per year. But that doesn’t matter because the land always seems to increase in value, and the capital gain that is made on the land is tax free.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is actually very similar to what urban New Zealanders do too, except they do it with their home. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The goal of many driven young farmers is to own their own farm. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I take a different view; I believe owning a brand is just as good or even better than owning land. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we look at some well-known companies we find that the value of the tangible assets, like land, plant & equipment is only a fraction of the total value of the company. The intangible assets or the goodwill of these companies are worth more than the actual assets that you can touch.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The “McDonalds” brand accounts for 70% of the total value of the company. This is despite the fact McDonalds owns some of the best commercial real estate in the world. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Coca cola brand is said to account for 51% of the company’s value. This is despite the fact that the company owns many other drink businesses too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I'm not really interested in owning the land that our cows graze. There is a limit to the amount of production a piece of land can produce, but there is no limit to how far you can grow a brand.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I feel that New Zealand agribusiness doesn't concentrate on building the consumer brands enough. We are very good at producing commodities. But the consumer brands are where the action is, in my opinion anyway.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My focus is on the building a consumer brand.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Sustainable farming</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rightly or wrongly, farmers are copping a fair bit of criticism about the environmental impact of modern intensive farming systems, especially dairy farmers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've decided that environmental sustainability is imperative, both on farm and off farm. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These days, just about every farmer will say that caring for the environment is very important. It seems that “environmental sustainability” is a relative term used by everybody regardless of their farming practices.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've looked at the science around water quality & nutrient leaching. It appears that the science is quite clear. We know what factors cause environmental damage. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately it can be quite difficult for a traditional dairy farm to change their practices to meet the science & stay profitable at the same time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We've designed our farming system so that it is adaptable & fits around what the science tells us about nutrient leaching & effluent run-off.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The farming system we employ, has to be pure. That means our goal is zero nutrient leaching, zero waste & eventually carbon neutral.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, that’s a ballsy claim to make! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To be clear, I'm not saying we will achieve those goals from the start, but that is our goal. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We’re prepared to get radical & funky with the way we farm to ensure we get there. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Value chain control</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we look around the world we see farmers who have lost control of their product.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many dairy farmers in the UK have found themselves at the mercy of the milk processors & the major supermarkets. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The supermarkets have all the power and they use their power to drive down the price that the farmers receive.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our friends in the Australian dairy industry have found themselves bearing the brunt of the supermarkets using milk as a loss leader. Again the farmers find that they have little power.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recently in New Zealand we have seen many suppliers complain about the business practices of our supermarkets, which happen to be owned by the same Australian supermarkets, which (quite by coincidence) are being run by the same bunch of Poms who used to run the UK supermarkets. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, I want nothing to do with supermarkets. (Actually, I don't think the supermarkets would want anything to do with me either.) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s easy to say “we’re going to take control of our product”. It’s quite another thing to actually do it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The easy thing to do is to sell our milk via a retailer. They have the customers and it’s easy to get the volume that I require to be profitable. But in the long term, I would find myself dependent on the retailers for my distribution.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm going to spend a little more time and effort now & get set up to sell our milk direct to the customer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But in order to produce a truly sustainable product with a small scale herd, I need to know that I'm not going to get screwed down by a retailer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Opportunity & Lifestyle</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This section comes out of the “I want my cake & I want to eat it too” department.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I want a great lifestyle where I can spend quality time with my kids & wife. I don’t want to be tied to the cows and I don’t want to be running around in a frantic rush, trying to get all the jobs done in the day. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also want to earn a good living and to top it all off, I don’t have much money to spend setting up this business. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So it has to be cheap to set up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some will say I'm an unrealistic dreamer to think i can have all those things together. Well maybe I am, but I'm going to give it a crack.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If this works, there is no reason why young eco conscious, entrepreneurial men & woman from around New Zealand, can’t set up their own milk business.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I was 25 I found an investor, who helped me go into business for my self. There’s so many good young people out there who don’t think farming is an option for them. I want to get young people into agriculture. Many young people give dairy farming a go but decide to leave the industry & do something else (like myself). I want to see if we can create opportunities for young people to start their own farming businesses that provide the lifestyle we all want.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So those are this issues that have been on my mind for the past few years.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In my next post I'll explain how the mobile milking business will work and why it addresses these 5 points.</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-66898730334549125582013-10-10T11:19:00.000+13:002013-10-10T11:19:11.182+13:00Fonterra & The Botulism Scare. What Actually Happened <div class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://keithwoodford.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Keith Woodford's blog is great.</a> He doesn't post often but when he does its good.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His latest post is on the Fonterra botulism scare. Keith outlines the turn of events.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are the main points.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It all started back in May 2012 when some plastic came loose in a whey concentrate dryer at the Hautapu plant near Hamilton. The risk was that this plastic had got smashed up and possibly melted within the dryer, and then mixed with the whey.</span></i></blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only way to find out for sure was to hydrate the whey powder (which is soluble) and then filter out any solids. For reasons not clear, Fonterra chose to do this using equipment that had not been used recently. Unfortunately the equipment had not been properly cleaned.</span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Once hydrated and then re-dried, the product passed the mandatory bacterial tests, but did have a level somewhat higher than typical.</i></span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>By this stage there should have been two orange flags but the Fonterra system recognised neither. <b>The first was that once the product had been reprocessed, then it should have been drafted away from human use and used for stock feed</b>. The second orange flag was when the re-processed whey powder gave elevated but technically acceptable bacterial counts. <b>Once again, this should have been enough to restrict its use to stock feed.</b></i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The next flag came in March 2013, when an Australian division of Fonterra re-tested some of the powder before using it as an ingredient.</i></span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This time they found bacterial counts had further elevated. In all likelihood these levels were still below technically acceptable levels, but the fact that levels had risen in the powder would have been indicative of anaerobic bacteria being present.</i></span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i></i><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">Fonterra saw this as an orange flag but it should have been a red flag. <b>All products processed from the Hautapu plant using the same production system should have been immediately removed from the supply chain and placed under bond.</b> Instead, Fonterra decided only to do further tests.</span> </i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hindsight is wonderful. If in doubt leave it out.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Discriminating between sporogenes and botulinum is difficult. There is no quick laboratory test. Instead, it is necessary to culture the organisms and then feed them to mice. If the mice die then it is botulinum; if they don’t die it is sporogenes.</i></span></span></blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this case, it would seem that some mice may have died but not enough to be sure.</span></i> </blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So AgResearch reported that it looked likely that there was botulinum present but they were still not sure.</span></i> </blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At this stage Fonterra did see a red flag. The Government was notified and there was a product recall.</span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>If only Fonterra had seen the warning flags earlier on, then all of the damage could have been avoided. <b>The products should have been removed from the supply chain before there was any risk of them getting anywhere near any consumers</b>. If that had been done, then no public recall of products would have been needed.</i></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Things got worse when Fonterra's representative went onto live TV and said that they had actually found the botulism toxin in infant formula! We now know that the actual harmful toxin was not present.</span><br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the interesting issues going forward will be whether legal action is now undertaken, and if so, as to who sues who.</span></span></i></blockquote>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Their unhappiness is not that Fonterra delivered them a product containing Clostridium botulinum. Indeed Fonterra did not deliver such a product. Their unhappiness will be that Fonterra so bungled the management of the scare that their infant formula market in China has been seriously damaged.</span></span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was speaking with a food safety consultant recently. He has a client who manufactures and sells blackberry powder to the asian market.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His product has been stopped from entering into some asian countries. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He was notified by his customer via an email in broken english explaining that they won't purchase anymore product because botulism was in New Zealand products.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This issue does not just affect dairy products.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I suppose this highlights the dangers of the food business. Reputations can be ruined so quickly. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a consumer, I often wonder how food can cost so much. Consumer may only think about the cost of land, inputs, wages, harvesting & delivery costs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the cost of testing food, storage costs while food awaits results and of course product that is discarded if test results are not conclusive, are all major costs that food companies must face and build into the price.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New Zealand has had such a good reputation as providing safe food, thats because its so easy to stuff up. Other countries have stuffed up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hopefully all businesses in New Zealand can learn from this. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I get sick of hearing small business people complaining about the amount of regulation that they must pass in order to provide food to the public. Sure, it may be hard and tiresome, but the costs of getting it wrong are too great for our little country. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Food safety is our competitive advantage, so we must protect it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-15899232857935605472013-10-07T11:17:00.001+13:002013-10-07T11:22:24.407+13:00On Farm Productivity Is Good, But The Big Money Is Made From Off Farm Productivity<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Theres a lot of talk about productivity in New Zealand these days.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But are we focusing on the right areas?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The government has set a target of doubling the primary sectors export earnings from $32 Billion to $64 Billion by 2025.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nobody doubts that this is a difficult ask.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New Zealands primary sector has a strong record of productivity gains.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/sheep/8815345/Massive-gains-by-NZ-sheep-farmers" target="_blank">The sheep industry alone has increase productivity</a> (expressed as meat sold /ewe) by 80% over the last 25 years.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thats 2.5% productivity gain every year. Any business analyst will agree that that is impressive.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But are sheep farmers any better off?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite 20 years of productivity gains sheep farmers recently experienced their lowest level of profitability, according to Beef & Lamb NZ data.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggsrfMvDkZ2PLx_SgdzfSQGjmrPIq_WY303gS3FZb4jRJmgKtR_pyGNBja0Lc67GoLforOwqTPhYo71ljw1U6blXqHgNAFD9jcaxSxworoaTGb3_ZdMxrDDQiHAyAUPm2L5d2reOjVUag/s1600/Sheep+Farm+Profitability.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggsrfMvDkZ2PLx_SgdzfSQGjmrPIq_WY303gS3FZb4jRJmgKtR_pyGNBja0Lc67GoLforOwqTPhYo71ljw1U6blXqHgNAFD9jcaxSxworoaTGb3_ZdMxrDDQiHAyAUPm2L5d2reOjVUag/s640/Sheep+Farm+Profitability.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New Zealand farmers are very good at on farm production productivity, such as milk solids/ha or meat/ha or tons of grain/ha.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But its the off farm productivity that needs some serious work and that is where the big gains are available.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cR40CXP0hs" target="_blank">Rod Oram is a business journalist and he gave a very good example recently</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fonterra has a total asset value of $4 billion.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One Fonterra plant manufactures infant formula for Pfizer, the pharmaceutical company.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pfizer's infant formula business has an 8% share of the Chinese market.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recently Pfizer sold that business to Nestle for $12 billion! Thats three times the size of Fonterra's entire business!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, Fonterra supplies the milk, manufactures the milk into infant formula and packages the formula into tins.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pfizer puts its branding on the tins and wholesales the formula to retailers. That part of the value chain, the branding and the wholesaling is worth $12 billion. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fonterra or New Zealand farmers receive a small portion of the value of the final product.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You could say, if Fonterra owned that formula brand which has an 8% market share and took the formula right through to the retailer. Then Fonterra would be worth its current $4 billion + $12 b to be worth $16 billion dollars!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think you could say that the payout to farmers would also be three times its current rate. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How does a $21/kgms payout sound?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We could put it another way, if Fonterra was just that one factory and all it did was produce infant formula for 8% of the Chinese market under its own brand. It would be worth three times what all of Fonterra is today.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New Zealand is very good at producing quality product, but not very good at keeping paid for it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The graph below is from a Corileus report that they have made public. As you can see Fonterra is one of the largest dairy companies in the world from a volume perspective. Pfizer is way down the bottom by size. But Pfizer's dairy business makes a hell of a lot more money than Fonterra does from its products.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoSOw-3TM2cU6oht-263kvk6rKEjzSs2Qik3sEwxj4GGTZpVeULW2JLBhQqzZSavB0NEUsBcuBZSYvO58KbA8CEaZ9vVZFcQ0NC8XN3kZCGVGW8_ASzhvwAp644debJ97tq_WU232yrK8/s1600/Fonterra+is+a+large+company.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="441" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoSOw-3TM2cU6oht-263kvk6rKEjzSs2Qik3sEwxj4GGTZpVeULW2JLBhQqzZSavB0NEUsBcuBZSYvO58KbA8CEaZ9vVZFcQ0NC8XN3kZCGVGW8_ASzhvwAp644debJ97tq_WU232yrK8/s640/Fonterra+is+a+large+company.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The graph below shows the profitability of the different dairy companies.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKeXbMCJqurjH8RdLTVxTJNSe5rnBGasq8xsZupayCqjr2fwbG6_QjNU9Q660Ddt_smSxt9nqBpuyjNrPSp1moUo1FpPM4rS-t96wIbmdeIHrH1qWBG5Ih86RWLYZ-v9Wic43Bh5aWFLA/s1600/Fonterra+Profitability.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKeXbMCJqurjH8RdLTVxTJNSe5rnBGasq8xsZupayCqjr2fwbG6_QjNU9Q660Ddt_smSxt9nqBpuyjNrPSp1moUo1FpPM4rS-t96wIbmdeIHrH1qWBG5Ih86RWLYZ-v9Wic43Bh5aWFLA/s640/Fonterra+Profitability.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fonterra is making a 4% return on Asset, while Nestle, Kraft, Danone which have their own retail brand products are making 14%-15%.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The nutritional dairy businesses which deal with infant formula etc are returning well over the 25% right up to 65% return on assets for BMS Nutritionals! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These graphs are exciting, they show that Fonterra has plenty of room to increase profitability.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fonterra have been saying that their "strategy refresh" will focus on increasing the value they receive for their products.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last year Fonterra announced that they are launching their own branded infant formula into Asia. Which is a good start.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What will Fonterra look like in 10 years? Imagine if Fonterra is successful in growing the portion of its business that is branded. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The increase in profitability is potentially huge. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some of the thoughts that are going through my head are:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How will a more profitable Fonterra affect land use change? If dairy returns are much greater than sheep/beef while Fonterra operates at the commodity level. How can other land uses compete with a payout of over $15/kgms?</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Will the payout actually increase in line with profitability? You assume it would.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What will Fonterra shares be worth? Assuming greater profitability increases the dividend paid.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What will happen to land prices?</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What environmental impacts will this have on New Zealand?</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What ever your views of Fonterra or the dairy industry are, you can't deny that the future is bright for New Zealand dairy farmers and the flow on will benefit the whole NZ economy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the same challenges still exist for the industry such as public perception, environmental impact and staffing issues.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-11421987968306639532013-08-07T15:26:00.000+12:002013-08-07T15:26:42.522+12:00To Change Perceptions Farmers Need To Connect<h4>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's a perception Issue</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I often hear people in the agricultural sector say things like "We need to remove the emotion from the issue" or "It's a perception problem".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We will never remove emotion from decisions, because everybody forms judgments based on their emotions, past experience and prejudices.</span><br />
<br />
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People make snap judgements</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book called "Blink". In his book he outlines research that shows people make judgements on a person, product, brand based on very small amounts of information.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He says that once a judgement has been made, a person is unlikely to change their mind.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/3TRioBKpUwY" width="480"></iframe></div>
<br />
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only way to change a persons opinion is to connect with them</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the video below I discuss 2 examples. One is of Village Milk and the other is Fonterra & their new light proof milk bottle.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Farmers need to put themselves out there, people what to know about farmers and their businesses. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, I'm encouraging farmers to start blogging, make videos or sign up to some form of social media.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Get your stories out there, show people what you do.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because the perception of farmers or farming is not going to change unless farmers connect with the public.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/S14ZaB26E24" width="640"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-72566242263115949562013-07-29T15:37:00.000+12:002013-07-29T15:37:29.309+12:00Reduce Nitrate Leaching With The Mobile Milking System<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unconventional ways to reduce nitrate leaching</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Part 1 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://milkingonthemoove.blogspot.co.nz/2013/07/agroforestry-systems-can-reduce-nitrate.html" target="_blank">A few weeks ago I explained how agroforestry is a farming system</a> that is able to reduce nitrate leaching.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Part 2</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today I will talk about how a dairy farming system based around a mobile cowshed is able to reduce the level of nitrate leaching.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A traditional cowshed is in a fixed location. The cows have to be within walking distance of the cowshed because they need to get milked twice a day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The main cause of nitrate leaching on dairy farms in the cows urine patch.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For this reason, the cows are always grazed on the same block of land surrounding the cowshed.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What this means is the cows are rotating around the same block of land every 15-30 days, urinating on the same paddocks month after month, year after year. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By making the cowshed mobile, we also make the herd mobile and that allows the cows to move to other blocks of land throughout the year.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Essentially spreading the urine/nitrogen over a larger area and therefore reducing the concentration of urine on each single block of land.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's a totally different farming system, but could be one method farmers use to reduce their nitrate leaching levels.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/LXs12SiA7_M" width="640"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-16670412425925227612013-07-15T16:08:00.000+12:002013-07-15T16:18:15.249+12:00How A 750 Cow Dairy Farm, Could Make $125,000 More By Employing 2 Extra Staff<div style="text-align: center;">
<h4>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/SpUSkjCsMN0" width="640"></iframe>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></h4>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>The Small Things Make A Difference</b></span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ive been using a 750 cow farm (Canterbury average) as an example. I have been saying that this farm should have 5 employees + the boss, instead of the usual 3 employees + the boss.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 extra staff @ $35,000 each = $70,000/year extra wages</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But if this farmer could:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<ul style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<li>Increase fertility by 7% = extra $32,000</li>
<li>Decrease SCC in just 5% of cows = $30,000</li>
<li>Increase pasture quality by 10% for just 31 days = $63,000</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
Thats adds up to an extra $125,000</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
Subtract the $70,000 in additional wages = $55,000 better off.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
By employing 2 extra staff, could this farmer:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Train staff better</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Retain staff for longer</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reduce hours worked by each employee</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have less stressed staff</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have more engaged staff</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Attract better quality employees</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By attracting better people who are more engaged, better trained and generally less fatigued. Farmers are able to make lots of small improvements across the whole business.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The figures used here are examples of average performance being increased slightly. The productivity gain will be much greater foe farmers performing at below average.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">6 Week In Calf Rate</span></h3>
<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<ul style="font-family: Times;">
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.lic.co.nz/lic_News_Archive.cfm?nid=450" target="_blank">Average NZ 6 week in calf rate 65%</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.side.org.nz/IM_Custom/ContentStore/Assets/10/45/4e027f84fa4862f3197e1bb242f8d522/2.2%20Blackwell%20&%20Lee.pdf" target="_blank">7% increase = an extra $115/ha profit</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">$115/ha * 277ha = $32,000</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7% increase in 6wk in calf rate @750 cows = extra 52 cows in calf</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thats just an extra 1.2 cows/day in calf for 42 day period</span></li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Times;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>"It's really easy to miss one cow on heat or miss a retained membrane after calving etc when staff are tired or rushed or not aware of all the things that contribute to a successful mating"</b></i></span></div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Mastitis</span></h3>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="font-family: Times; text-align: start;">
<ul>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.lic.co.nz/lic_Mastitis.cfm" target="_blank">5% of cows contribute to 50% of Somatic Cell Count</a></span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5% of 750 cows = 37 cows</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Drop BSCC from 212,000 to 150,000 = to $31/cow</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">$31*750 cows = $23,000</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.smartsamm.co.nz/files/Articles/Lower-cell-count-benefits-bottom-line_November_2011.pdf" target="_blank">Drop BSCC from 300,000 to 150,000 = extra .15/kgms</a></span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">750 cows (@400kgms/cow) *.15 = $45,000 extra income</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Times; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>"Depending on what your cell count is and what the payout is, there's around $20,000 to $40,000 sitting there if you could just work on 5% of your herd"</i></b></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Pasture Quality</span></h3>
<ul style="font-family: Times; text-align: start;">
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.dairynz.co.nz/file/fileid/37498" target="_blank">10% increase in pasture quality = extra 0.4kgms/cow/day</a></span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">750 cows * 0.4 = extra 300kgms/day</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Assume farmer can achieve 10% increase for just 31 days</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">300 kgms/day*31 days= 9,300 kgms *$7/kgms = $63,000 extra income</span></li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Times; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>"You don't have to spend any extra money to get that; you're using the pasture you've already got, but we're just assuming you can do it a little bit better for one month of the year"</i></b></span></span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
Disclaimer:</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
These figures are just hypothetical and based on assumptions. Before I get jumped on by people claiming I should have used $6/kgms rather than $7/kgms or that fertility figures should be $100/ha rather than $115/ha etc.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
I'm just using some data that is easily found to illustrate a point that small gains added up make a big difference. </div>
<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
Likewise, small losses add up to make a difference too. </div>
<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
When I read figures showing:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<ul style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<li><a href="http://milkingonthemoove.blogspot.co.nz/2013/05/dairy-farm-staff-and-shocking-rate-of.html" target="_blank">The average length of service on a dairy farm is less one year</a></li>
<li><a href="http://milkingonthemoove.blogspot.co.nz/2013/05/dairy-farm-staff-and-shocking-rate-of.html" target="_blank">Staff turnover increases to 40% every September </a></li>
<li><a href="http://milkingonthemoove.blogspot.co.nz/2013/05/dairy-farm-staff-and-shocking-rate-of.html" target="_blank">Anecdotal evidence shows 1/3 of dairy staff leave the industry every year</a></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /> I'm sure many farms are missing out on profit.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Transcription</span></div>
<div class="Body" style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You know,
this is the last time I'm going to talk about dairy farm staff, but I just want
to make one last point and it's that the small things make a difference, they
all add up. And, you know, I've been saying a 750 cow farm really needs an extra
two staff, so that's an extra $70,000 a year. So, that's a lot of money, but I
think if we just concentrated on three KPI's, or parts of a dairy farm, and if
we assume that a farmer was at an average level of performance and they could
make a slight increase on each one of those three areas, that they not only
could cover their extra $70,000, but they would make an additional $50,000 as
well. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -54pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -54pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So,
the first thing I want to talk about fertility and the average six week in-calf
rate in New Zealand is 65%. So, Lincoln University did some work and they
increased the six week in-calf rate by 7%. And they said that was worth an
extra $115 per hectare in operating profit. So, if we times that $115 per
hectare by 277 hectares, which is what your 750 cow farm is. Then that's an
extra $32,000 in profit. And that 7% increase is worked out to be 52 cows. You
just need to get an extra 52 cows in calf over that six-week period, which is
42 days. So, that's 1.2 cows in calf and I'm saying if you had those two extra staff,
would you be able to train your staff better and would you be able to do that? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -54pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -54pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So,
the second thing is mastitis. Now, Livestock Improvement Corporation tell us
that 5% f your herd attribute to 50% of your bulk somatic cell count. So, that
works out to be 37 cows. And, they tell us if you drop your, or if you have an
average cell count of 212,000 and you drop it to 150,000, that works out to be
worth an extra $31 per cow. So, times that by 750 cows and that's $23,000.
DairyNZ have some slightly different figures and they tell us if you could drop
your cell count from 300,000 to 150,000, that's worth an extra 15 cents per kg
of milk solids. So, on a 750 cow farm, that works out to be around an extra
$45,000. So, depending on what your cell count is and what the payout is, now,
there's around $20,000 to $40,000 sitting there if you could just work on 5% of
your herd. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -54pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -54pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
pasture quality is the third thing. DairyNZ tell us that if you could get a 10%
increase in pasture quality, that correlates to an extra 0.4 kgs of milk solids
per cow per day in production. So, times it by 750 cows and that's an extra 300
kgs dry matter, sorry, 300 kgs in milk solids per day. And, let's just assume
that you can get that 10% increase for just one month of the year, so 30 days.
So, that works out to be an extra 9,000 kgs of milk solids. Times that by $7
payout and you're looking at an extra $63,000. And, you know, you don't have to
spend any extra money to get that; you're using the pasture you've already got,
but we're just assuming you can do it a little bit better for one month of the
year. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -54pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -54pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So,
let's add all this up. If you take a 10% increase in pasture quality for just
one month of the year, that's worth $63,000. Concentrate on 5% of your herd and
drop your cell count down to 150,000, that's worth $30,000 a year. If you can
increase your fertility by 7% , that's $32,000 a year. Add that all up and
that's $125,000 in additional profit or income. Minus your $70,000 for your two
extra staff members, and you're still ahead by $55,000 a year. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -54pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, I'm saying, with those extra two
staff, would you be able to have a staff that are more engaged? Would you be
able to train them better? Would they, would you be able to retain them? Would
you be able to attract even better people to your farm? Because all you need to
do, is make, you know, a little adjustment over those three areas, and you make
your money back. What if you did over five or six parameters on your dairy
farm? So, I think it's a false economy to understaff our farm</span></span><!--EndFragment-->
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-12569222950320540242013-07-05T22:53:00.000+12:002013-07-05T22:55:27.525+12:00Agroforestry Systems Can Reduce Nitrate Leaching By 50%<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Following on from Mike Barton's presentation to Beef + Lamb NZ, about farming under a nitrate cap. I thought I'd look at some less conventional ways farmers can reduce nitrate leaching.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today I want to discuss <a href="http://www.nuffieldinternational.org/rep_pdf/1341272658Stephen-Briggs-2011-report.pdf" target="_blank">Stephen Briggs Nuffield report into Agroforestry.</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The report shows how an agroforestry system can dramatically reduce the amount of nitrate leached from a farming system.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's a pretty radical change, but maybe the pasture based dairy farm of the future will include 100 trees/ha as well as cows.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/v0_qKMyXfF8" width="640"></iframe>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Transcription:</span><br />
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Glen Herud here again and I'm blogging from my van today because I'm
struggling to find time to blog. I still want to blog, but the only time I have
to myself is when I'm stuck in Christchurch rush-hour traffic for 30 minutes
every morning. </span></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, I know I'm a bit weird.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I posted a video of Mike Barton last week about how he farms under a nitrogen cap.
<a href="http://www.beeflambnz.com/news-events/News/2013/june/multimedia-farmer-science-roadshow-2013/" target="_blank">Heres the link to the full video on the Beef + Lamb NZ website</a>. I recommend you watch it. </span></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But this is what he had
to say:</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>"We leach
93% of the manageable nitrogen that's going into the lake. We wanted it to be
all the batches and the septic tanks and the town and whatever else you could
hope for. It wasn't. It was us."</b></i></span></span></blockquote>
<div class="Body" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You know,
I think it's just a matter of time before all farmers will have to farm under a
nitrogen cap. And whether that's right or wrong, I don't know. I just sense
that the movement is towards that. </span></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you look at the changes on the Horizons
District Council, what's happened in Taupo. Canterbury is talking about it.
Southland is talking about it. You know, I just get the sense in 10 to 15
years time, that's where we'll be.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I
don't think farmers are really thinking radical enough about how we could
change our farming systems. I'm sure farmers understand how big the effect will be on their
farming businesses. They understand that. But I think we need to really think
about how we're going to farm under that, rather than spend all our energy on
fighting it. Because I think it will happen, as Mike Barton said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, one
radical system, I'm going to cover a few radical ways that we could farm cows over the next couple of
weeks. </span></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<h4>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Agroforestry</span></span></h4>
</div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I want to talk about agroforestry. The reason is that agroforestry
has been <b>shown to reduce nitrate leaching by up to 50% over a monoculture
system</b>. Now, Stephen Briggs is a Nuffield scholar from the U.K. and he released
a report on agroforestry last year. And I'll put a link to it, it's really
good.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYZSfyBJedFZxAeEY3bmE8TTe0Kr4Et5IjjDn5T0Kbmqpj230-lvjHKDt3p_rnWx31WdWyRCX3egyxpKxvwe5nTGSkaIDDlXOntdAQzMY2NTVQmz1hhkZ2oR9gc6b76wDuCgDceeKdlec/s450/cranfield.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYZSfyBJedFZxAeEY3bmE8TTe0Kr4Et5IjjDn5T0Kbmqpj230-lvjHKDt3p_rnWx31WdWyRCX3egyxpKxvwe5nTGSkaIDDlXOntdAQzMY2NTVQmz1hhkZ2oR9gc6b76wDuCgDceeKdlec/s640/cranfield.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But, what
you do is you really combine trees with agriculture. So, they could be nut
trees, fruit trees, timber trees and they could be cropping. Could be dairy,
whatever. And what you do is you plant them in lines, you have <b>about 100 trees
per hectare</b>. And you farm within the alleyways.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, the
reason it reduces nitrate so much is that the tree roots will grow down deeper.
And they go in underneath the alley crop and they join up in the middle. That
creates a kind of a safety net. So, any nitrate that drops out the bottom of
the agricultural system gets absorbed by those trees. Therefore, you have a
much lower rate of nitrate leaching.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwCsMv76x-ELG-aGaP7hN5C_rRRMrqW0PGAk6IWu5Yq_JljG_WtwqtOvshluEUV0KBIK9XWIzyKRyTqG6RLqlTHJa1iN0ihwnhm3Ed18CFEgqvoxyod-SXhQXffA-_-u9jLFzOHQ-2Dh4/s634/Screen+Shot+2013-06-25+at+11.32.06+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwCsMv76x-ELG-aGaP7hN5C_rRRMrqW0PGAk6IWu5Yq_JljG_WtwqtOvshluEUV0KBIK9XWIzyKRyTqG6RLqlTHJa1iN0ihwnhm3Ed18CFEgqvoxyod-SXhQXffA-_-u9jLFzOHQ-2Dh4/s640/Screen+Shot+2013-06-25+at+11.32.06+PM.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So,
there's a lot of other advantages. For instance, shelter. Also, agroforestry
systems have shown to have 30% reduction of evapotranspiration rates. So that
means that you're losing less water out to the atmosphere. Which is probably
pretty good for Canterbury farmers that particularly, when you think about our
howling nor'westers in the summer. But it's not all plain sailing. Shading is
an issue and Stephen talks about how to overcome shading and the research done
on that.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know Lincoln
has done some research into agroforestry and they showed that, after 15 years,
their pine trees have totally shaded out their alley crop. So, we don't want
that to happen. There needs to be a bit more research done into it. But, you
know, it's a radical way of doing things. I mean, imagine if your average dairy
farm sort of looks like this and imagine just planting that full of trees.
Planting thousands of trees in your most productive land. That's a pretty
radical thing to do.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
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<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, these
are the sort of things I think we need to start thinking about if we're going
to have a dramatic effect on our rate of nitrate leaching. And of course, many
people, many farmers, don't think we need to. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But as Mike Barton says in his
presentation, <b>'If farmers don't come up with the solutions, some bureaucrat in
Wellington probably will.'</b> And it's much better that farmers come up with
solutions than someone else. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, I'm just going to throw out some real wacky,
way-out sort of things that maybe we need to consider to reduce our
environmental impact.</span></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: #0400; mso-bidi-language: X-NONE; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0400;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1061209502480568903.post-66140623828079728772013-06-27T15:55:00.001+12:002013-06-27T16:53:38.829+12:00Mike Barton-Beef Farming Under a N Cap. This Video Will Scare The Crap Out Of Dairy Farmers<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mike Barton gave this talk to the Beef & Lamb NZ Farmer Roadshow in June 2013. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is a real eye opener & Mike explains in detail what farmers in the lake Taupo catchment have had to change in order to meet the Nitrogen cap put in place by their regional authorities.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks to <a href="http://www.beeflambnz.com/news-events/News/2013/june/multimedia-farmer-science-roadshow-2013/?_cldee=Z2xlbi5oZXJ1ZEBnbWFpbC5jb20%3d" target="_blank">Beef & Lamb New Zealand for making it publicly available.</a></span><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/i2uZA0fNUwU" width="480"></iframe><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A quick summary</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mike has had to cap his nitrogen leaching & production to 2004 levels.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He can't change his beef farm to dairy for example, therefore he has also given up any real capital gain on his land.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He has to farm for cash flow not capital gain.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8fwWTpRy3ZGZbUPcdVt1CdFJcBLb4U2qGU0F_wAYd7v7A1PImmxPuleawLn5WlvvfBcb6GCMD6CpzJyjB9EnqEZ313bGOJtCoUo17XHd1dz6l1zZ-V7DaCljWQ2A_VDIjm00uoMAvapE/s1600/Taupo+Catchment+Map+.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="457" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8fwWTpRy3ZGZbUPcdVt1CdFJcBLb4U2qGU0F_wAYd7v7A1PImmxPuleawLn5WlvvfBcb6GCMD6CpzJyjB9EnqEZ313bGOJtCoUo17XHd1dz6l1zZ-V7DaCljWQ2A_VDIjm00uoMAvapE/s640/Taupo+Catchment+Map+.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">20% of catchment area is in Pastoral farming, 69% is in forest.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Possible many other regions of NZ will be the opposite! (69% pastoral & 20% forest)</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwSoBge9YydCQtsEJmDBiiUZ3zuex71fq6JTH1Qx_xeI00hsz8eV1CaDPkMgtLpmUg23nsQtBJmZb90xByh4CiGynDwHmGquiSTW5otnOaabWzy8rc34SRGayk3lW22GUKfjS7AzKB1iw/s1600/Nitrogen+leached.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwSoBge9YydCQtsEJmDBiiUZ3zuex71fq6JTH1Qx_xeI00hsz8eV1CaDPkMgtLpmUg23nsQtBJmZb90xByh4CiGynDwHmGquiSTW5otnOaabWzy8rc34SRGayk3lW22GUKfjS7AzKB1iw/s640/Nitrogen+leached.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Farming responsible for 93% of manageable Nitrogen</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6 farms were modelled for the environment court-Insolvent in 5-9 years</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Production is capped at 2004 levels</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since then costs have increased by 48%</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mike assesses his productivity in profit/kg of Nitrogen leached. That is the only way he can increase his profitability.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3HjlPgn5AvwiXB3LQjrCzzp0Bhu23iztQaBG-vVv3UPC_CdZDWzCGKCXSNuCqFuHjClfEXv1W3j5umOmG144XDtXUfL5wMJ8P54iRoQCdLGnpFTGNSYP0LueSdqex2IwPHp_CjDinugc/s1600/Market+value.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3HjlPgn5AvwiXB3LQjrCzzp0Bhu23iztQaBG-vVv3UPC_CdZDWzCGKCXSNuCqFuHjClfEXv1W3j5umOmG144XDtXUfL5wMJ8P54iRoQCdLGnpFTGNSYP0LueSdqex2IwPHp_CjDinugc/s640/Market+value.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mike stated, New Zealand farmers can not continue to sell our product for less than it costs to produce.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New Zealand farmers have not been taking into account the environmental cost of our production. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New Zealand farmers need to stop being commodity sellers, they need to stop worrying about production and start to concentrate on selling high value products, and more importantly retaining as much of the value as possible.</span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We need to find low N dairy systems</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The reason I am working hard to investigate dairy farming systems that leach very low amounts of Nitrogen is because the day will soon be here when farmers of all descriptions will have to account for the nitrogen leaching out of their farming systems.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I get the feeling it will not matter which flavour of government is in power, the trend is clear.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Horizons One Plan is the latest instalment and it is only a matter of time before similar plans hit the rest of the country.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm planning now, for a profitable farming future. Where my cows will have to leach much less Nitrogen.</span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15413783435112851071noreply@blogger.com5