The Government is backing a project to support Māori landowners to invest in New Zealand’s rapidly growing sheep milk industry, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said today. “We are backing the Māori Agribusiness Sheep Milk Collective, which has ambitious goals to have multiple farms milking about 25,000 sheep and potentially employing more than 100 people by […]
sheep
Growers support wool industry merger
Wools of New Zealand (WNZ) and Primary Wool Co-operative (PWC) shareholders have overwhelmingly voted in favour of a proposed merger of operations between WNZ and Primary Wool Co-operative-owned CP Wool (CPW). More than 99.7 per cent of WNZ shareholders and 100 per cent of PWC shareholders who voted supported the merger, which will see both […]
Sheep flock down, beef herd up in latest stock number survey
The total number of sheep in New Zealand decreased 0.8 percent (by 199,000 head) to an estimated 25.83 million while beef cattle numbers rose 2.5 percent to 3.98 million, according to Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ)’s annual stock number survey. The decline in sheep numbers was across both breeding ewes, down 0.5 percent to […]
WOMOLife Wins Wool Harvesting Training Contract
Kaiaka Wool Industry Training NZ has awarded the contract for its new $1.8 million pilot training programme to multi-format training provider WOMOLife. Kaiaka will train up to 270 shearers and wool handlers and create 150 new jobs. At least 70% of new employees will be Māori. Kaiaka will also establish two wool harvesting (shearing and […]
Animal welfare clock ticking on shearer border decision
Federated Farmers and the Shearing Contractors Association are looking for an urgent decision from the government to allow experienced sheep shearers into the country. “We’ve been reminding the government since late winter we are going to have increasing urgency around the need for shearers this summer,” Federated Farmers immigration spokesperson Chris Lewis says. As the […]