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Effective communication during tough times on farm

Sarah Hawkins, dairy and environmental consultant at BakerAg, won the Emerging Rural Professional of the Year Award in 2023. She says the award itself is awesome for the recognition, but it’s more about the connections she’s made because of it.  Part of the award prize included money to put towards research, overseas travel or professional development, and Sarah has used her funds to undertake some personal coaching to enhance her relational and communication skills and nurtur...

Out on the farm: Winter 2024

Inbound sales and onboarding specialist for FarmIQ, Irene Le Fleming, lives on a sheep and beef station near the idyllic small town of Kurow. Here’s her farming update as we move through a dry and chilly winter.  ...

New FARMAX-FarmIQ award recognises rural professionals at the peak of their careers

FARMAX-FarmIQ and the New Zealand Institute of Primary Industries Management (NZIPIM) have today announced a brand-new accolade: the FarmIQ Rural Professional of the Year Award.The purpose of the award is to recognise industry professionals who have dedicated themselves to the agricultural industry and have contributed positively to their farmer clients, colleagues, and the rural field. The new award accompanies the existing FarmIQ Emerging Rural Professional of the Year Award, which celebr...

The most handy tool on the farm? A FARMAX-FarmIQ sward stick

The FARMAX/FarmIQ and Beef + Lamb New Zealand sward stick is a simple but effective tool which measures pasture height.It is used to calculate the relative pasture mass commonly referred to as pasture cover in kilograms of dry matter per hectare (kgDM/ha). The tool is calibrated to provide estimates for each season and can be applied across all of New Zealand.Benefits of using a sward stickHelps with feed budgetingEstimates covers up to 4,500kg DM/haHelps calculate feed utilised and pasture grow...

Updates to PureFarming login

In late 2023, the way you log in to FARMAX was updated. You are no longer be required to phone us to register when you install FARMAX on your computer;  instead, you can now login using your e-mail and a password thanks to our partnership with PureFarming.  If you’re an existing FARMAX user and haven’t yet setup a PureFarming account, select the new ‘Sign up…’ option the next time you open FARMAX, and step through the short process of creating a free PureFarming account.�...

Getting started with PastureVibe

Pasture Vibe is a growth forecasting tool developed for New Zealand farmers, which uses the latest NIWA weather data available to generate a 90-day growth projection for your farm.Although available for purchase independently, Pasture Vibe is now bundled for free with all FARMAX Advantage and DSM subscriptions. This allows FARMAX users to improve the accuracy of their FARMAX models by incorporating the last growth rate data available....

FARMAX Autumn Trainings 2024

The team will be getting back out on the road hosting in-person FARMAX training sessions this autumn!Throughout April and May, Tara, Libby and Irene will be doing FARMAX Red Meat and Dairy trainings, covering monthly monitoring and scenario analysis.There will be trainings in two new locations: Taupo and New Plymouth, so if you live nearby make sure you grab a ticket!Click here to register for a training.Please get in touch with the FARMAX team at support@farmax.co.nz or on 0800 3...

DSM paves a smoother path for dairy farmers in bumpy times

Jeremy Savage is closing in on three decades at MacFarlane Rural Business, a consultancy firm based in Ashburton that specialises in red meat, dairy, cropping and arable farm support covering the Canterbury, Southland, and Tasman regions.Jeremy’s primary focus is on the dairy sector, where he has developed monitoring systems aimed at maximising the conversion of grass into milk for enhanced profitability.He loves what he does, saying, "after 28 years, I’m still in my first job!"The number of...

Research shows the value of non-financial reporting for farmers

We recently sat down with the FARMAX/FarmIQ Emerging Rural Professional 2021 Award winner, Jemima Snook, who has just completed the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme. The award is given out annually at the New Zealand Institute of Primary Industry Management (NZIPIM) conference and its focus is to recognise passionate and innovative young people in Aotearoa’s agricultural industry, and Jemima put her prize money towards completing the Kellogg programme.“As a manager in the agricultural busi...

Searching for certainty in uncertain times

Sprawled across the picturesque plains of Southland is Aquila Sustainable Farming (ASF): six dairy farms covering almost 3,000 hectares and home to 5,200 dairy cows. The ASF farms are certified organic to the EU standard, with stock numbers ranging from 400 – 2,200 across each farm.The organisation is owned by Aquila Capital – one of Germany’s first alternative investment management companies, with the goal of creating environmentally sustainable investment solutions. In 2011 they purchase...

Emerging rural professional, Sarah Hawkins, wins top award

Environmental and dairy consultant, Sarah Hawkins, has been named as the Farmax/FarmIQ Emerging Rural Professional of the Year for 2023, the top contender in a field of highly talented and passionate nominees.Sarah is a consultant at BakerAg, specialising in a number of areas, including environmental plans, financial analysis, farm system design and nutrient management. She brings her skills working with programs such as Overseer, FARMAX and mapping software to help farmers find solutions in whi...

A chat with Blake Gunn, last year’s Emerging Rural Professional award winner

Since 2012, we’ve sponsored the Emerging Rural Professional of the Year Award at the New Zealand Institute of Primary Industry Management (NZIPIM) annual conference. This award was created to celebrate and recognise passionate and innovative young people in Aotearoa’s agricultural industry.Previously known as the FARMAX Emerging Rural Professional of the Year Award, following a merger and rebrand, the award is now sponsored by FarmIQ Systems Ltd. Despite a change in sponsorship title, the aw...

Equity partnership at Haddington flourishes

Rob and Coral Buddo started farming in Hawke’s Bay in the early 1990s and have seen their fair share of change in the industry over the years. The Buddo’s farming operation spans over five properties, totalling around 1,000 hectares. Their latest venture, Haddington, is an equity partnership with young farmer Chris Hursthouse, farming a 220-hectare coastal property, finishing a 50:50 split of lambs and bull-beef, including Wagyu. What’s exciting about this partnership is the opportunity fo...

Recording your history to model your future

Sally Lee has been a skilled FARMAX user for many years, using FARMAX not only for her own farm, but in a consulting capacity as well.Sally has run Burklee Farm for the last 14 years in an equity partnership that has “worked absolutely fabulously” and has thrived under her management, increasing the lambing rate from 80 percent to 140 percent in the first five years on farm.Burklee consists of two blocks in the hill country between Port Waikato and Raglan, with only 14 percent of flat to rol...

The grass is always greener on the funny side

Michael Blanche runs Culteuchar Farm; a 184 effective hectare sheep and beef farm near Perth in Scotland. The short seasons are a challenge, with grass growth falling off a cliff in November, and the terrain varies from 200 – 900 feet above sea level.He began his rural career as an agricultural consultant in 1999 but had always wanted to be a farmer. He started out with 50 sheep in 2003, leasing a small plot of land about 12 miles from home, each year increasing the number of ewes.For seven ye...

FARMAX GHG features get the conversation flowing between consultants and farmers

With increasing environmental regulations for farmers, we spoke to two consultants about how they use FARMAX to assess environmental impacts on farm and what farmers can do to get ahead of the game.Julian GaffaneyJulian Gaffaney is a dairy agribusiness and farm management consultant at TransformAgri based in Timaru. He uses FARMAX as the basis for mapping out dairy farm systems to get a good understanding of a farm’s production, performance and environmental KPIs.“It actually very accurately...

Embracing grass with data-driven decision making

Rhys Williams, his wife and their three children live on Rhys’ family farm on the Llyn Peninsula in Wales – a very rural area and one of the most Welsh-fluent parts of the country. Weather conditions vary greatly throughout the year but generally it’s a kind climate for growing grass. The land is a scenic mixture of coastal areas bordered by verdant mountains.The farm is a 60ha dry stock business with 1,000 hoggets and 150 contract-reared R2 Kiwicross dairy heifers. Rhys is also a sharehol...

FARMAX DSM a powerful tool for consultants and farmers alike

The origins of FARMAX DSM go back to 1999 in a discussion group run by Chris Lewis of BakerAg, where his farmer clients wanted an “apples for apples” comparison that showed them how their farms were performing.Back then, they were doing some analysis of physical and financial performance, but all the information was historic. And while that did give farmers a good indication of how they had been performing previously, it was all “rear-view mirror”, and they were determined to find out �...

How FARMAX calculates GHGs

With various greenhouse gas (GHG) calculation tools available for New Zealand farmers to ‘know their number’, we have put together a simple diagram to help users understand how GHG emissions are calculated in FARMAX.Developed closely with AgResearch, these reports align with the standard New Zealand Inventory Methodology. Emissions for each gas are reported in units of carbon dioxide equivalent. This is the quantity of CO₂ that would have the same global warming potenti...

Looking outwards in order to look in

As a skilled dairy farmer and an ex-bank manager for the National Bank, Clint Gulliver has experience on both sides of the fence. He’s spent many years in the agricultural industry, gaining a Bachelor of Commerce from Lincoln University and holding positions on the Young Farmer and National Fieldays Society boards. Now as an agribusiness consultant for AgFirst Waikato, Clint puts his industry knowledge to good use, helping local dairy farmers get the best out of their farm businesses.One ...

Planning for uncertainty

It was always Trevor Cook’s intention to complete an agricultural science degree and head back home to run the family farm, but the call of a vet degree was strong.These days, Trevor is a rural consultant based in Fielding, and his veterinary degree comes in handy, weaving an animal health focus into his consulting. It is just one aspect of farming, which Trevor says is becoming increasingly complex and volatile.Changes to regulations and the political landscape affect farmers in many ways, bu...

Farming into the future with FARMAX

Phil Journeaux is an agricultural specialist who has dedicated his life to working in the industry, including 35 years with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.Now, as a rural consultant and agricultural economist for AgFirst Waikato, he specialises in supporting farmers with farm business planning and decisions – particularly pertaining to environmental management and sustainability.There is an increasing focus from the New Zealand government – as well as businesses and consumers – o...

FARMAX Accreditation brings greater clarity

Angela Tanner, consultant at BakerAg in Masterton, had been using FARMAX for a couple of years before she embarked on the Bronze Accreditation. A few years after that, she decided to formalise her skills and quickly progressed to Silver and then Elite.After successfully completing all the accreditation levels, Angela has more confidence when using FARMAX and, specifically, greater clarity when building farm models.“Becoming accredited gave me the ability to identify the strengths and...

FARMAX Accreditation leads to more valuable on-farm discussions

The FARMAX Accreditation programme has been running for five years now, with dozens of agricultural professionals partaking to enhance and test their FARMAX skills across three levels: Bronze, Silver and Elite.We’ve created the programme alongside consultants which helps us ensure that the accreditation is as straightforward and valuable as possible.One of our Elite Accredited consultants, Sandy Campbell, AgSupport lead at AgDesign, appreciates that the whole accreditation programme is broken ...

Creating a farm fit for family, finances and the future

On the east coast of the North Island, slightly northwest of Napier lies Te Hau Station, 285.3 hectares of flat to rolling land owned by Patrick and Isabelle Crawshaw.The young couple are each only 25 years old, with Isabelle from the city and Patrick having plenty of farming experience growing up on the family’sKenhardt Angus stud and being a finalist in the Young Farmer competition. In addition to owning and running the farm by themselves, Isabelle runs an events business and Patrick works p...