Agsafe Weekly Rural Report
Finance:. NZ dollar continues to ease against the US$. Our dollar is at an 18-year low against the US$. It has firmed slightly against the Euro and the Aussie$. Brent Crude was steady to easier during the week & is currently at $95.74/barrel.
Wool: The next sale is scheduled for the 19th November. There are talks of introducing a wool levy again.
Beef, Sheep & Venison schedules: The meat schedules remain steady to slightly firmer across all categories. Yard sales have been difficult this week with the extreme wet conditions putting buyers off and the Canterbury sales cancelled because of Show Week.
Dairy Prices The Fonterra AGM reported strong sales and was up-beat about the industry, but fell short of lifting the FGMP to $10.00 in time for Christmas!! The Pulse Auction is showing very strong demand for WMP with a 7% increase from the previous auction.
Mating of cows should be well underway with submission rates available & non-cyclers identified. I have been receiving reports of high submission rates, but the real success is the final conception rate. An 80% submission with an 80% in-calf rate will have 64% of the herd in-calf. Do your checks now & ensure the cows are given every opportunity to be in-calf.
Quote: “The best argument against democracy is a five‑minute conversation with the average voter.” - Winston Churchill. Perhaps this is the answer to last weekend when people voted for an eloquent woman with no real policies or political substance!!
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,
I had promised myself I would not make any political comments until the new coalition was formed to govern the country, but promises get broken when the frustration level rises. I could perhaps regurgitate some rants relating to the COP31 meeting in Turkey where Australia has taken the center stage promoting the climate hoax to the world and the political elite, but that can wait for another day. But back here in NZ we are fed a litany of lies about the electoral system with Chris Luxon still unaware of how the MMP system works and Chris Hipkins claiming foul with the right-wing of NZ manipulating the election outcome. The over-hang strategy is legitimate and worked when the few who understood the system realised that the electorate votes for National were going to exceed the Party Vote by 5% to 10%. National ended up with 400,000 Party Votes and no list MP’s. Don’t forget that the Maori Party have used the system to secure a place in parliament by getting the electorate votes and pushing the party vote to others – usually the Greens. The Maori Party creates an over-hang well before any National plan was suggested or a re-education of the nation as to how our electoral system works!!. We then have electorates where deals are done - ACT and National had a deal in Epson for the previous 2 elections. The Greens didn’t stand a candidate in Hamilton East pushing votes to Labour in an attempt to unseat the sitting National MP and there are other examples across the country as well in an attempt to manipulate the outcomes. Games have always been played and no matter what voting system is used the political parties will find a way to manipulate it. My biggest concern was the rise of the Opportunities Party (TOP) and I have several concerns; the first being the flattering media promotion as they developed a relationship with the TV and radio media that was unwarranted from their past performance and it really does show how the media can influence voting. TOP had few policies, they had advertised for a leader and party members and we now have at least 7 new people in Parliament with no experience and not aligned to any particular substantive policy or ideology receiving salaries and benefits to hang around and do nothing – they will be ineffective in government. The second concern I have is that a party with no clear pathway or direction to govern was voted in to parliament largely because of an eloquent and attractive party leader – remember that none of their MP’s had ever met before their first meeting at parliament last Monday. We do not, and should not, be looking for a popularist person to run the country. We need people with skills in many areas and sound policies to get the country moving again. Perhaps there could be a roll for TOP in the coalition with ACT. NZ First and National by inviting them to be part of some strategic committees that might educate them and help them understand the complexities of what is before them, if they are ever returned to parliament, and what is required to run a country. But to the Maori Party, it looks like it’s getting worse with 2 cowboy-hat-wearing-scribble-faced MP’s promoting division in the nation. I listened to the last hour of Mike Hoskin’s on Saturday night where he had Maurice Williamson and Barry Soper as his expert support. It was insightful and clearly articulated to the listeners and Maurice stated he had warned the National Party of the possibility of the current situation when MMP was first proposed, and he was not believed. The next 2-weeks will be interesting as we await the final outcome. And try and remember that for the next general election encourage people to understand the policies and the parties philosophy and look past the attractive eloquent presenters or some media promoted “rock-star”, our country is too important to be played with by the media.