News in brief

$8 million boost for red meat exports

The New Zealand Government is committing $8 million to the next phase of the ‘Taste Pure Nature’ campaign, aimed at positioning New Zealand beef and lamb as the highest-quality red meats in China. Announced by Agriculture and Trade Minister Todd McClay during a signing ceremony in China, this investment strengthens the partnership between the Government and the red meat sector to increase exports and differentiate New Zealand’s product from competitors.

China is New Zealand’s second-largest lamb market, behind Australia, and the sixth-largest beef importer. The campaign’s goal is clear: “Together with the sector we have set a joint target of making New Zealand lamb the number one preference with Chinese consumers replacing Australia as the largest lamb exporter to China,” Mr McClay says.

As of June, 29% of New Zealand’s total red meat exports, valued at $2.86 billion, were sent to China. This includes $1.27 billion in beef and $1.05 billion in sheep meat. Minister McClay highlighted China’s growing middle class, eager for high-quality, safe, and ready-to-eat food, aligning perfectly with New Zealand’s grass-fed, free-range red meat story.

OSPRI to take on TB testing

OSPRI’s Board of Directors recently approved plans to bring on-farm TB testing in-house. This follows the recent decision from AsureQuality not to renew their contract with OSPRI for on-farm TB testing services.

By delivering TB testing ourselves, we believe there are other benefits too. Firstly, it introduces more agility, whether that’s responsiveness to emerging technology or when changes in TB testing are needed quickly. It also creates an opportunity to welcome experienced and certified testers (already familiar to farmers), which reduces the risk of disruption to the TBfree programme. Our discussions with current TB testers have already been met with an enthusiastic response.

As we move forward with this new approach, and refine the delivery of this work, we may still rely on pockets of sub-contracting - where it makes sense to do so.
OSPRI takes over on-farm TB testing on 1 July 2025, before then both AsureQuality and OSPRI are working closely to ensure a smooth transition for farmers.

During the transitionary period testing has been reduced in lower-risk areas. More information about livestock TB testing and how we manage disease control in different areas of New Zealand, can be found on our website.

Insights from DairyNZ events

Two DairyNZ events at the end of November in Murchison and Golden Bay had a good turn out with 28 and 25 farmers attending respectively. There were great conversations around creating efficiencies for a productive workplace on farm, with up to 57% of time on a dairy farm spent milking throughout a season.

Murchison farmers heard from locals Jon and Vicki Nicholls who have recently changed to a Once-a-Day system and introduced the use of wearable technology. They discussed what this has meant for their farm, helping to create efficiencies and support their operations.

In Golden Bay, Brendan and Liz Richards also discussed how using flexible milking on different occasions has impacted their business.

DairyNZ Farm Systems Specialist Mark Speight then shared at both events on the recent research into variable milking frequencies, as it can be an effective on farm practice to improve people productivity. Changes within your milking system and use of technology can benefit your cows, staff and production while maintaining a profitable dairy business.