Country Life

Ag Consultant Phil Journeaux says skinny cows take months to recover and will cost farmers next season because they'll be too thin to be productive.

Food for Thought, Pop Up Pub and a Social Day Out, Beefing up Cows and the Regional Wrap.

Former gliding instructor Phil Pearce finds riding his motorbike more relaxing than driving a car and the 89-year-old can't see himself stopping any time soon. Every fortnight or so, Phil takes his classic Kawasaki 650W for a 90-minute ride from Palmerston North to his family land in Rangitikei to check possum bait stations.

"I'm more of a milk person. I like the big milkers" says North Canterbury stud breeder and goat judge Ray Messervy. Ray has been farming goats for nearly 50 years, ever since his daughter, who suffered from chronic eczema, was told by the family doctor to try goat's milk. Ray went out and bought a milking doe and, after drinking the milk for three weeks, his daughter's eczema disappeared. Since then the Amberley man has been goat mad.

Taranaki has had cold southerly winds and heaps of rain. Dairy farmers are mainly still milking but will dry off earlier than they had hoped. Pasture growth remains higher than normal in Canterbury for the time of year. Dairy heifers that have completed their May to May contract are on the move..

Waikato iwi have joined forces with ESR scientists and community volunteers – including rugby league legend Tawera Nikauto and his family – to plant thousands of native plants around Lake Waikare in the Waikato. It's hoped the anti-microbial properties found in mānuka leaves, roots and honey will help cleanse soil degraded by farm runoff.

The farmer-led group's aim is to keep in touch with Waimakariri farmers to let them know about any changes to environmental policy and to ensure they have the support they need to put good systems into practice.

Motorcycle Madness, Lake Waikere , More Doe for Goats Milk, The Waimakariri Next Generation Farmers Trust and the Regional Wrap.

After 2,600 kilometres and 13 years of trekking across private farmland on horseback, foot and bike, the  participants on the Great New Zealand Trek are nearing Slope Point – the southernmost tip of New Zealand and their final destination.

New Zealand could lead the world in developing biological pesticides, according to plant pathologist Stephen Ford. China has named Ecolibrium Biologicals – which he founded – one of the top ten bio-pesticide companies in the world.