‘Sharemilkers will find way around it’
christina.persico@stuff.co.nz
With Gypsy Day only a week away, sharemilkers need to increase their biosecurity standards so the farming practice will survive, one Taranaki farmer says.
Some farmers throughout New Zealand fear sharemilking will die if or when the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis spreads further.
But Matthew Herbert, chair of the Taranaki Federated Farmers Sharemilkers’ Section, said there was no reason for panic.
‘‘Sharemilkers are really creative people and we’ll find a way around it,’’ he said.
‘‘I think we’re really good at being flexible; I think we’re really good at coming up with new ways of doing things.
‘‘I think sharemilking will be fine.’’
He said a lot will depend on the Government’s decision on Monday – whether to continue culling infected herds or just control the disease, which is not dangerous to humans but can cause mastitis, pneumonia and abortion.
‘‘It’s going to be difficult either way. I think that we just need to, as an industry, focus on improving the biosecurity measures, and if every sharemilker makes sure that our NAIT [National Animal Identification & Tracing] compliance is spot on, it will just be part of how sharemilking evolves.’’
He said sharemilking had already survived bovine TB and BVD (bovine viral diarrhoea) and should also weather the M. bovis storm, but practices will have to change.
‘‘I think that in New Zealand, in a lot of New Zealand anyway, we are still very, very relaxed about biosecurity and that will change. It will just be about doing due diligence.’’ Matthew Herbert, chairman of the Taranaki Federated Farmers Sharemilkers’ Section
Hollie Wham, 2018 Taranaki Dairy Industry Awards Share Farmer of the Year with partner Owen Clegg, said the disease would scare a lot of people off buying stock.
She agreed that a lot rested on the Government’s decision.
‘‘At the end of the day sharemilkers can’t risk losing their whole herd.
‘‘There will be people that will continue but there will be people for whom this is the last kink in the chain.
‘‘There might be some people that get out a little bit earlier than they were going to because of it.’’
There were farmers who also needed to be more strict and make sure they had practices in place right down to truckies scrubbing their boots.
‘‘They won’t be able to cut the corners like they have in the past."’
Sharemilkers are already declining in numbers. Latest figures from Dairy NZ show 27.3 per cent of dairy herds are operated under a sharemilking agreement in 2016-17, down from 32.4 per cent in the previous year.
Primary Industries Minister Damien O’Connor told yesterday farming practices would have to change as officials battle the infection.
‘‘This will ultimately change the way that we do farm in New Zealand ... there will be less off-farm grazing, less movement of stock, more dependence on their own breeding regimes for replacement of stock and better management of their milk,’’ he said.
Ben Walling’s farm, near Lumsden in Southland, has been infected since December. He said if the disease was not eradicated from New Zealand, farmers would be wary of sharemilkers.
‘‘You can farm with it but you have to be a closed farm. That means no more trading stock, no more sharemilkers,’’ he said.
Farmers on the edge, p16. When Renee Moratti was young her mother would only take her to the doctor if aromatherapy didn’t heal her – it was the first port of call.
Now the 22-year-old is a third generation user of the aromatherapy products by Le Reve, a brand that creates and sells different scented products ranging from oils, to perfumes, to candles.
But not only does Renee, who’s based in New Plymouth, use the products alongside her mother, Sandra Moratti, and grandmother, Theresa Gibbon, she sells them, too.
She’s the youngest person directing a New Zealand team selling the brand.
But it all started with her mother, who is a passionate believer in aromatherapy, which uses natural oils from plants for psychological and physical well-being.
‘‘Aromatherapy has always been around, literally right since we were born,’’ Renee said. ‘‘We’d do aromatherapy first and if that doesn’t work then we go to the doctors.
‘‘If it was a cut or a burn or we couldn’t sleep at night; it was always aromatherapy first.’’
Renee started wearing perfume when she was 15. It was around that time she found her favourite perfume too, which she still swears by: Hypnotic Poison by Le Reve.
Because she was young, Renee used to get compliments about how nice she smelt, and used to share her secret.
One day, a family friend told Renee she should consider selling the brand.
‘‘She said ‘maybe you should sell this because you sell it to everyone anyway’.’’
Renee’s Mother Sandra said her love for Le Reve started around the same age as Renee.
‘‘Way back when you weren’t here, I probably went to my first [Le Reve] party when I was 15 too,’’ Sandra said. ‘‘But back in my day it was mainly oils, soaps, your mists and your lotions.’’
Sandra built up a collection of aromatherapy oils, which is what she’d mix together to help Renee when she was unwell.
‘‘But now it’s come up that you can roll it on, and it comes in candles, and you don’t have to use so many oils.’’
Renee’s Grandmother Theresa Gibbon has just picked up products from her daughter’s, and granddaughter’s recommendations over the years.
The 22-year-old has been working for the company for about four years.
She is based in New Plymouth. Zulu Love
Zulu Love is a group of musicians based in Soweto, Johannesburg. Their deep rich African harmonies blend traditional styles such as isicathamiya with upbeat African soul music. In Zulu Love’s 2018 show –South African Harmonies- the songs and dance tell of everyday life, love and worship. Zulu Love perform for one night only at TET Cue Theatre, Inglewood on Wednesday, May 30 at 7.30pm.
Elijah
Ars Nova Choir is delighted to bring back to Taranaki Mendelssohn’s much-loved work. Joining them will be prominent New Zealand opera singers Barbara Graham (soprano), Linden Loader (contralto), John Beaglehole (tenor) and Roger Wilson (bass). Composed in the spirit of his Baroque predecessors Bach and Handel, whose music he loved, Felix Mendelssohn’s celebrated oratorio Elijah depicts events in the life of the Biblical prophet Elijah. Tonight at 7.30pm at Theatre Royal, TSB Showplace. Tickets available from TSB Showplace and Ticketek.
Govett Brewster Art Gallery/ Len Lye Centre
A showcase of films built around hand-made and stop motion animation screens at the Len Lye Centre Cinema on Saturday 1pm –
1.40pm. The 10th Govett-Brewster Art Gallery Projection Series is titled Glitch Envy: Experimental Films by Jodie Mack. Entry is free.
Call in to the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre on Sunday for hands on, art making sessions for the whole family. From 1pm to
3pm, stay as little or as long as the kids are keen. Entry is free, donations appreciated. See two short films linked to the new exhibition Sriwhana Spong: a hook but no fish, today and tomorrow, 2-2.40pm. Entry is free to the screenings of having-seen-snake and The Scientist’s Search, an Expedition to the Amazon’. The free monthly GoetheInstitut NZ German Film Series movie at the Len Lye Centre Cinema is The Legend of Paul and Paul.
Screening tomorrow at 4pm. Entry is free but booking essential at www.govettbrewster.com
The documentary heART of the Matter about post-war education programmes that put art, artists and Maori arts into the classroom, screens in the Len Lye Centre Cinema on Monday, at 2pm. Free entry.
Get a look at the exhibitions of arguably Britain’s most popular artist David Hockney. The Exhibition on Screen film is at the Len Lye Centre Cinema on Tuesday ,
10.30am. Entry is $12 or $10 concession.
Stop-motion-animated film Isle of Dogs screens at the Len Lye Centre Cinema on Thursday, May 31 at
7pm. Entry is $15 or $12 concession. Pre-School Art is on June 1,
10.30am – 11.30am. With the gallery educators, have fun seeing and making art, with tips for caregivers engaging little people in art. Play groups and early childhood centres welcome, please book. Suitable for ages 3+, entry by donation.
The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre changes out its exhibitions three times a year. The new exhibitions are Sriwhana Spong: a hook but no fish, Free Radicals: Cinema on the Wrong Side of the Tracks, Len Lye: Pretty Good for the 21st Century, Open Collection: Ta¯ tai Arorangi and Projection Series #10 Glitch Envy: Experimental Films by Jodie Mack.
To be included in the entertainment snippets please email stephanie.mitchell@ stuff.co.nz by noon on the Monday of the given week. Please send a 100 word blurb about your event, including the name, a brief description, the time and location.