Country Life

A round-up of the week's agricultural news.

Take a listen to some of the stories making headlines on the RNZ rural newsdesk this week.

Federated Farmers has pointed out at least 500 dairy roles remain unfilled - due to what they call horrendous delays in visa processing - and it couldn't come at a worse time. - calving.

There has been a big spike in cases of leptospirosis in flooded areas in New Zealand.

The Environmental Protection Authority has approved the release of a rust fungus to control the spread of the highly invasive Chilean needle grass in Marlborough.

The Chatham Islands is grappling with an 'out of control' feral pig population that residents say is causing widespread damage.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Meet Miley, a seven-month-old huntaway with great potential. She's the third generation bred by award-winning dog triallist Chris Shaw and we'll follow along as he trains her up.

Wairarapa farmer and dog triallist Chris Shaw with his latest pup, seven-month-old huntaway Miley.

The secret to training any dog well is forming a strong bond between animal and trainer.

Wairarapa dog triallist and stock manager Chris Shaw would know. He has been working with a team of dogs daily for close to 20 years.

"When I'm picking a pup, I normally like the one that comes up to me, just wants to be me mate," he tells Country Life.

"They're going to be with you for a long time so you've got to like everything about that dog."

Miley, his latest pup, is the third generation in a line of huntaways that Chris has been breeding.

Mum Roxy and big sister Duchess, Dutch for short, are a part of his regular working dog team.

Miley was sired by a "a natural working" dog from the Hunterville area named TJ, as Shaw is now more focussed on breeding "good farm station dogs".

Miley with big sister Duchess and mum Roxy.

One of six born at the end of January, she is now about seven months old - the most important time in a young dog's life, Shaw says.

"The most important time in a dog's life is eight weeks old and eight months. So that's the time the dog sort of bonds with you and becomes your mate.

"There's not a lot of training that goes on at this stage in her life. It's more of a bonding process."

Rather than seeing himself as the boss of Miley, Shaw views their relationship as a partnership.

"We're going to be together a long time so we have to get along."

The secret to a well-trained dog is the bond between trainer and pup, Shaw says.

Miley was chosen for her friendly nature and good "bone structure".

"She's got a healthy, athletic physique."

There is a lot of time and effort that goes into breeding and training up a working dog. Shaw is in no hurry to rush the process either.

"For me there's no set time on breaking in a dog. If you do the basics properly, you'll end up with a better product, whereas if you rush them to get them broken in you get a sort of half-hearted dog that doesn't want to work with you. I'd like to have a dog broken in by two-and-a-half to three years old."

Shaw says a team of working dogs is "like a bag of golf clubs, every dog has a job".

Huntaways are the "motor of the team" that help move the stock, while heading dogs are like "the steering of a car"…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

This week Country Life meets a Huntaway pup with great potential to become a top farm dog, we learn about the science behind protecting sheep from worms, a charity is helping to rehome old working dogs plus a wrap of the week's rural news.

This week Country Life meets a Huntaway pup with great potential to become a top farm dog, we learn about the science behind protecting sheep from worms, a charity is helping to rehome old working dogs plus a wrap of the week's rural news.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The cost of living crunch has seen the number of retired working dogs looking for homes explode. We talk to the charity helping rehome them about why they make such great pets

Retired Working Dogs currently has about 45 dogs available for adoption. Here are some of them.

A group helping to find new homes for retired farm dogs has been hit by a "double whammy" as both farmers and potential adopters struggle with increased costs.

Retired Working Dogs, a charitable trust founded more than 10 years ago, fosters and helps to rehome retired or injured farm dogs as well as working breeds not suited to farm life.

The trust works with about 500 farmers each year to rehome working dogs on their behalf, at no cost to the farmer.

Trustee Marie-Claire Andrews said high on-farm costs meant an increase in the number of dogs in need of new homes.

"We're seeing a rise in the number of dogs and we're think that's actually because a lot of the surgeries we need to intervene on are orthopaedic ones, so they're very expensive, and for some farmers the cost of that can just be too much with all the other costs they're facing."

At the same time, the trust had seen a slowdown in the number of people looking to adopt - for similar reasons.

"The cost of owning an animal now is so much more expensive ... an additional cost for a household already struggling with constrained income."

The trust has about 45 dogs looking for new homes. All are working breeds, from huntaways to collie crosses, and they range from puppies to retired working dogs around 10 years old.

Andrews, who joined the trust after adopting her own retired pig dog, said he had changed her life.

"With my experience with Eric, I was a first-time dog owner. With Eric I had an amazingly well trained, beautifully obedient dog.

"All the hard work had been done. It was super easy to bring him into our life."

She said working dogs made "amazing pets", citing their loyalty and intelligence.

"They've done some complicated work and been trained to a high level often so that kind of intelligence and curiosity makes them really special to have in your life."

As part of the adoption process, the trust assesses applicants' living situations - including fencing, and whether they have young children or other animals - before checking to see if a dog is a good match with a meet and greet at the home. If that goes well, there is a month-long trial.

The trust charges an adoption fee of $350, which includes desexing the dog.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Strategic thinking is needed to break into the Indian market, Meat Industry Association's Sirma Karapeeva says.

Strategic thinking is needed to break into the Indian market, Meat Industry Association's Sirma Karapeeva says.

She is Country Life's guest this week.

Listen to interview with Sirma Karapeeva

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Step inside an old post office in rural Taranaki and you'd think you were in a grand mansion in Europe. It's been converted into a small luxury hotel, but there's more than meets the eye behind its beautifully refurbished walls.

When Maria Hancock fled Nicolae Ceausescu's authoritarian regime in 1986, she never thought she might end up in rural Taranaki running a small luxury hotel.

She was the daughter of a retired colonel in communist Romania, leading a "privileged" life, but escaped before the 1989 revolution, intent on seeking more freedom.

Nearly 40 years on and after living in several countries, she and her husband have refurbished Eltham's former post office, an historic two-storey building near a busy crossroads.

Listen to Maria and David's story on Country Life

Maria and New Zealand-born David fell in love with the high studded, classically styled structure on Bridge Street and bought it in 2019. However, it was tired after its heyday as a post office from 1905 to 1995.

With the help of some talented tradespeople, they set to transforming the building for opening day in April 2021.

Maria found herself sewing sumptuous curtains, putting up wallpaper and starching sheets ready for the first guests.

The building reminded her of her old life in eastern Europe and she and David wanted to instill it with some European flair.

Despite the hardship for most under Nicolae Ceausescu's rule, Maria said she grew up comfortably in an area known as Little Paris for its grand buildings and boulevards.

"I grew up in a building three times, four times bigger than this ... you could feel the magnitude of the building and big stairs and light," she told Country Life on a tour of the home.

"I said in my mind, 'I will never leave my country'. I had a lovely life. I did exactly what I wanted, in those periods of time, because I was privileged."

But she decided to flee after the offer of a career promotion which would involve becoming a member of the communist party, "a no-no" in her book.

She could see the struggles of people living under rationing and surveillance. Her own family would resort to conversations outside for fear of the Securitate - Romania's secret police - listening in via devices in the home.

"I understand very well, it was very hard even to talk, to talk at home.

"In the street, people, they were keeping their head down. Their faces were grey, and you couldn't find the smile on their faces."

It is this memory, too, which has inspired Maria and David's project to help the people of Ukraine as they struggle in a war with the authoritarian regime of Russia…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

This week Country Life meets a couple who have restored the old post office in rural Taranaki and ... a new pest trap driven by artificial intelligence is being rolled out around the Orokonui Ecosanctuary in Otago.

This week Country Life meets a couple who have restored the old post office in rural Taranaki and a new pest trap driven by artificial intelligence is being rolled out around the Orokonui Ecosanctuary in Otago.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

A round-up of the week's agricultural news.

Researchers hope to get approval for a trial to grow genetically modified ryegrass outdoors.

A round up of the week's primary sector news from the RNZ rural news team.

Lots happening in the tech and science sector. Researchers are hoping to get approval from the Environmental Protection Agency to trial growing genetically modified ryegrass outdoors, the first of its kind in over a decade due to the highly regulated nature of GMO research. New technology using lasers and artificial intelligence software is helping growers get on top of their weeding, without the need for environmentally harmful agrichemicals. Read more here.

Map & Zap uses AI software to detect unwanted weed species from amidst pasture.

A new pilot programme, called Wool Dynamics, aims to teach university architecture and design students all about the wonders of wool. Meanwhile, Lincoln University hopes to maximise gains from a 2800 panel solar farm its building, by planting crops like blueberries and other vegetable crops between the rows. Read more here.

Lincoln University is building a solar farm with 2800 panels.

Over in horticulture, fruit and veggie prices have had their biggest drop in over 60 years, dropping 16% in the past year - the biggest recorded falls since Stats NZ records began. Hawke's Bay horticultural sector needs at least $410 million additional funding to fully recover from Cyclone Gabrielle, a new report shows. Read more here.

Fruit and vegetable prices dropped 16% in the past year.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

A pilot using artificial technology to differentiate predators from native birds could be a game-changer for pest control.

A pilot using artificial technology to differentiate predators from native birds could be a game-changer for pest control.

More than 4000 pest control traps have been set as part of the Halo Project, which protects wildlife and habitat around the Orokonui Ecosanctuary in Otago by controlling possums, weasels, stoats and rats.

Now a new trap system driven by artificial intelligence is being rolled out as a pilot, with about 100 such AI traps already on the ground.

When an animal or bird approaches a trap, a camera takes a series of images which the AI model then assigns a probability score of being a target species.

If an image probability score is greater than a specified threshold (trappers are still working on what value to set the threshold), then the trap will be 'armed' or be able to be triggered.

The AI model is being trained to spot predators, while leaving indigenous animals or domestic pets alone.

"The ability for these traps to lock out and not activate when there's something that we don't want it to catch is pretty remarkable technology," Halo's project manager Rhys Millar says.

The Halo Project started in 2013 with a host of local landowners and conservationists getting together.

They were concerned that land around the 300-hectare Orokonui Ecosanctuary was being overrun with possums, mustelids and predators.

"If we want the beauty of Orokonui to expand beyond the fence, then we needed to do something about enhancing the rest of that landscape," Millar says.

Since then, more than 70 landowners have joined the predator-free programme.

It now reaches across 55,000 hectares of land north of Dunedin City.

Running alongside predator-free work is the Source to Sea initiative, which is focussed on restoring waterways, wetlands and forest habitat in Coastal Otago, from West Harbour-Mount Cargill to the Waikouaiti River.

Thanks to local volunteers, about 240,000 plants have gone into the ground so far.

Many were grown at the Project's own native nursery, which is based in a disused yard on farmer John Chapman's property.

Chapman also runs a pest trap line for the Halo Project and says native bird species are slowly returning to the area.

"I was quite chuffed the other day, I was walking through the other side of the farm and I saw a bush robin (toutouwai) on the track and that's the first bush robin I've ever seen on this farm in my lifetime."

Further down the valley is a 9-hectare DOC nature reserve at Long Beach near Whareakeake, where 40,000 native seedlings have been planted…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Country Life looks at a farming system known as agrivoltaics where traditional agriculture runs alongside solar farming and Cosmo's at a sheep breeders field day on Banks Peninsula, to find out how genetic gains can boost farm profits.

Country Life looks at a farming system known as agrivoltaics where traditional agriculture runs alongside solar farming and Cosmo's at a sheep breeders field day on Banks Peninsula, to find out how genetic gains can boost farm profits.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details