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This is a very special year for Ruralco. It is 25 years since the very first Instore Days were established, and everyone has a chance to be part of the celebration.

Changing milking frequency from twice a day to once a day or going to 16 hours isn’t hard, but it requires a change in mindset. Introducing Ecotain® environmental plantain into a farm system is the same.

“Spring pasture needs both nitrogen and sulphur. A sulphur deficit limits nitrogen uptake, and therefore the response to nitrogen fertiliser,” says Ballance Agri-Nutrients Science Extension Officer Aimee Dawson.

It has been several years since the autumn period has produced a consistent spell of warmer weather. With only a couple of light frosts the soil temperature has remained high and consistent growth rates across all crops and pasture. Feed surpluses have been good with little demand for supplementary feed over the past few weeks and now farmers are looking to manage and transition on to winter crops.

A closer look at Autumn sown arable crops, Barley grass control in Pasture and Weed control in Lucerne

Celebrating more than 50 years in the bull breeding business, Mt Somers’ Okawa Poll Hereford Stud remains wholly committed to producing bulls that perform under commercial conditions producing well-grown, easy-care, profitable offspring.

It is very easy to think of beer as simply a hazy combination of water, malt and barley, but that would be leaving out the quiet heart of a good brew - the hops.

For a 26 year old Sam Juby has done much with her life, and her biggest challenge yet awaits as she kick-starts her own goat farming operation in the Waikato this season.

One of the New Zealand dairy industry’s strengths is its ability to grow relatively cheap grass, which makes up the bulk of our cows diet. However, if we breakdown the components of what is in our grass, this is not a complete nor balanced diet and is often missing minerals, traces, vitamins, as well as starch.

Summer was challenging for the horticulture industry, with drought conditions – which were particularly severe in the Nelson/Tasman region – and biosecurity risks in Auckland with finds of Queensland fruit flies and Bactrocera facialis fruit flies in different parts of our biggest population centre.