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It’s bull and sheep buying season, and advancements in the genetics space are continuing to develop, to provide sheep and beef breeders with better New Zealand specific data. But how do farmers make the most of this information?

We talk to genetics specialists, Dr Shannon Clarke from AgResearch, Genetics Specialist and Gemma Jenkins from Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s Informing New Zealand Beef programme, about projects running at the moment, what data they already have available, and how farmers can start using it in their systems.

A bit of money spent on a conversation with your vet can save you more than you might think - don’t look at what free giveaways you get and forget about the free ham for Christmas, look at how you can use necessary products most effectively. Words Sara Sutherland

A super easy recipe for a fuelling snack from the talented Philippa Cameron of what’s for smoko.

A FREE flock health benchmarking tool has been created to allow sheep farmers to measure their farm management against best-practice with the aim of helping them improve animal health, farm productivity and profitability.

Drench resistance is a growing challenge for many New Zealand farms, but it doesn’t have to be a death sentence. Hear about what tools are out there, including adapting farm systems, and being proactive with testing.

Rebecca Greaves talks to Wormwise Programme Manager Ginny Dodunski about what to do if you discover drench resistance onfarm, and Hawke’s Bay farmer Charles Yule, who is farming with drench resistance and wrote his Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme report on this topic.

On-Farm Research is now two years into a project investigating Regenerative Agriculture (RA) and what role this might play in a dryland farming system. Words Paul Muir, On-Farm Research

Lifting the price of wool, the benefits of deferred grazing and capturing money left on the table from everyday tools - Sarah Perriam-Lampp was roving around Fieldays to capture yarns reflecting the opportunities in front of us today.

She checked out some exciting announcements for farmers across New Zealand: outdoor clothing company Stoney Creek’s pledge to pay farmers more for their wool; a new deferred grazing study from AgResearch; and innovations in animal management with Gallagher.

Blood tests from people eating beef from animals fed a functional, diverse pasture mix – sown so the animals can decide what they eat – have higher levels of vitamin E and several other compounds that can be beneficial to human health.

How do we keep the next generation and beyond engaged in the agriculture sector? In order to keep the agriculture sector growing, we have to get young people interested and provide training pathways. Hear from Farmer Time in Schools, which connects primary and intermediate-aged children with different farming systems across the country, and the Waipaoa Farm Cadet Training Trust, who train up the next generation of farmers in their skills-based cadetship.

A free tool which aids decision making on animal health based on each farm’s unique needs is continuing to prove popular with sheep farmers in the lead up to the critical prelamb period.