Plenty to lift the spirits out there

01-09-2010 | Trevor Cook

The sheep and beef industry is marching in two different directions.

On the farm the threats of high costs, the ETS, regional councils and product price uncertainty give good cause to be at least cautious. A lower than expected scanning or even a bad night's sleep could be enough for some to be quite depressed.

Overall it is an industry under pressure. Yet some exciting activities are happening on the periphery.

Twenty-four hours with 10 young men at the Waipaoa Station farm cadet farm was one of the most invigorating days I have had. To share that time with young folk who were so enthusiastic, knowledgeable, capable and above all else respectful, was nothing short of awesome.

The structures in place that have allowed these people to be there are just so successful and effective. The people behind this initiative need to be applauded because every aspect of the programme is good. The location, the farm resource, the choice of candidate and the tutorship are all just right to get a great outcome. That outcome is five young men emerging each year from two years of intensive farming and life skills education to be potential leaders in a wide range of vocations.

I have reflected on those 24 hours often. The excitement I felt, though, is always tempered by the state of the industry they are being primed up to lead.

Two scientific breakthroughs that can add enormous value to farming have captured two other 24 hours of my time in the past month. The launch of yet another new anthelmintic family is one of those breakthroughs. This new product, Startect from Pfizer, combines a new active molecule with one that we have been using for some time.

In combination these potentiate the effectiveness of each other, giving an effective new drench. The science around the sustainability of this product is convincing. As a new combination it can fit in to the worm control programme of any farming system (sheep only at this stage) to support production and to add to sustainability. This new product used in a planned way with other combinations, or with the other effective new drench, Zolvix, can bring huge benefits.

The key here, though, is planning. Another key is accepting the need to break a rule of the past. Drench rotations have not been part of the sustainable worm management message for a long time. With combinations, and in particular with a new combination, rotating drench types between years or within a year can add value.

It is hard to put a cost-benefit calculation around paying more for drench to add to sustainability. It is easy to put a cost benefit calculation around using only a fully effective drench. Paying modestly more to add to the former will prolong the time by many many years for the latter.

Another experience in July was being exposed to the value and excitement of the new DNA analysis technology. What is being referred to as the SNP chip tool, it allows fast screening of the genome for traits. In the case of sheep these are productive traits, but in time will include disease-resistance traits and carcase traits. This technology is cutting edge and is available to the New Zealand sheep industry after investment of sheep and beef farmers' levies in its development.

Although there have been other players in this development, NZ farmers could understandably feel aggrieved that their levy money has been used to develop a product that appears to be costly to use. I certainly felt that way until understanding just how the tool can be used and the value it can generate. It can never be calculated how much more it would have cost without farmer levy money supporting its development, although I suspect it is more to do with how fast it has been developed as much as at what cost.

It is an expensive tool and it is hard to justify lifting sire ram prices because it has been used. It cannot provide any more information than a robust on-farm performance selection programme, but it allows earlier and easier access to the same information or new traits not already being selected for, and consistent accuracy.

At present it is limited to four productive traits in Romneys (number of lambs born, lamb weaning weight, lamb carcase weight and faecal egg count). It has been validated for Coopworths and Perendales but not for all four traits yet. It can have application outside the stud world in commercial flocks. The return on investment in this arena will be interesting to follow.

It is early days and more breeds are close to being added, along with new traits. All aspects of this technology will get better and there is a genuine expectation that costs will fall as improvements are made. Like many farmers I had a hang-up with an animal health company owning this technology and selling it to farmers, but in reality it has to be in those hands for it to be fully utilised and developed.

The reality, also, is that Pfizer Animal Health relies on a strong working relationship with the science community and cannot afford to bite the hand that feeds it.

Two excitements of the past month involved Pfizer Animal Health. Just over a year ago it was Novartis holding the limelight with their new anthelmintic. We probably do not appreciate the investment that goes into developing new products and in particular anthelmintics. It has taken front-line science to enable these companies to bring us these products.

While other new products may not come with the same fanfare, they all can add value to our industry. They take the risk that that investment will give financial returns, and in today's environment that could be considerable risk. Just like "our" DNA tests being sold by Pfizer, if everyone can benefit then we should be reasonably happy.

No product is cheap enough, of course. It remains vital that we always challenge the product claims, and remember that the agenda of the animal health company may not be the same agenda that the producer has.

  Printable View