Agsafe Weekly Rural Report
Finance:. NZ dollar fell against the US$ and the Euro, but firmed slightly against the Aussie dollar – the Australian economy looks weak with the desperate rise in their OCR. Brent Crude crashed during the week & is currently at $97.14/barrel.
Wool: The wool sale on Thursday saw prices remaining unchanged for the main crossbred fleece. 23 micron down 7%.
Beef, Sheep & Venison schedules: The meat schedules remain steady to slightly across all categories as the spring growth kicks in. The international demand for red meat is very strong.
Dairy Prices The g/DT lifted 3% with nearly 40,000 tn sold. WMP lifted 5.9% to $US3971/tn, SMP was up 3.1% to $US4109/tn. Butter fell 4.7% while cheddar rose 8.6% following recent falls. The demand for protein is very strong. The Fonterra FGMP was lifted to $9.75 following the previous rise in g/DT, perhaps $10 before Christmas????
The accountants are getting the 2025/26 final accounts completed for many farming businesses. Take time to review the accounts along with the comparative data provided by you accountant. You should use this information to benchmark your business against the averages & the top 10%. Do some hard critical analysis and tighten up your management plans.
Urea applied now will be at its peak effect about Christmas Day!!! Plan your January feed now.
Quote: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in our bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same.” - Ronald Reagan
Need Help. If at any time you just want to talk & need someone to talk to, just call - Male Support Services (Waikato) 0800-677-289, or Rural Support Trust 0800-787-245. Crisis TXT – HELP (4357). A shared problem can be a problem solved!!
Jims Rant,
The use and the possible use of robotics in farming is growing and we need to take a pause and think about what they can do for us. I have just watched a video of the SwamBot raking hay in Australia. There was no operator on-board, just a pre-programmed machine driving up and down the paddock, lifting the rake at the end and turning into the next row, all very easy. Many of us have watched the “Humanoids” on TV recently having their own Olympics and fight clubs. Mentioning these activities shows a new dimension in robotics where a “humanoid” can fall down and then regain its upright position and continue on with the task, this is a major development. A “humanoid” as a milker can now deal with being knocked down by a cow, with tripping over in an uneven paddock or suffering some other accident. What I haven’t seen yet is the ability of a “humanoid” to deal with wet conditions like being urinated on in a cowshed or washing the pit/platform area with a pressure hose. Will this next level of development allow us to have “humanoids” milking in an existing herringbone or rotary cowshed and coping with the stresses of cups falling off and upset cows? There are several reader/measuring systems that can determine the milk quality and close off the system before contaminated milk enters the system, so perhaps it is just a few steps away from having “humanoid” milkers operating the cowshed. The existing electronic ear tags and collars can activate automatic drafting systems to isolate cows for AB or other treatments. Even the simple Batch-Latch can open the gate at a predetermined time to allow the cows to come to be milked on time and don’t forget that the satellite pasture readings can set up the grazing rotations from space. The existing robotic milkers are expensive and are limited to the number of cows that can be milked as they are single robotic units whereas a “humanoid” is likely to operate like a person in a herringbone or rotary shed handling large numbers of cows per hour. There would also be no hours of work restriction and other than a quick oil and grease at the appointed times – no drug use or staff turning up under the influence of alcohol. There are the robotic calf feeders that just need the powder to be loaded at the required intervals. The modern tractors have GPS systems that ensure sprays, fertilizers and cultivation areas are accurately measured and monitored. Halter can control where the stock graze without fences and drafting races can record a cows weight and with the weight recorded, the production and its quality recorded an in-shed feed plan can be established for each cow. Perhaps it is getting spooky, but if we don’t think about the possibilities in advance we could be left behind in the farming efficiency race. We must stay ahead of the unions before they bring in rules that could override the use of technology. There are some things that just won’t happen as even AI can’t override that real perception a farmer has when he out and around the livestock and looking at the pastures to make those critical final decisions.