We all know July 4th is a special day in the USA however this year I have an even greater appreciation of living in NZ rather than the USA. 2020 is certainly a year that will not be forgotten for so many reasons and yet we are only halfway through the year.

I got prepared to do my annual visits nice and early and have numerous vests sitting in boxes waiting to be delivered, however COVID stopped me getting on the road and since coming out of lockdown time has just disappeared unbelievably quick.

Last year we got the main shed built for the new feedmill and before lockdown we got some of the plant installed and the main silos built. Since lockdown we have started the mill shed and had more plant installed. However, it isn’t a fast process as most of the plant has to be custom designed and built. Hopefully, it will be finished by mid-September though luckily, we decided to leave the old feedmill intact (except for shifting 2 silos) so production can carry on.

Our bags were normally made in China however this year we have switched to Vietnam and in doing so we have taken the opportunity to make a few changes. The bags are now outside laminated rather than inside laminated. While the bags will now be more slippery, it will remove that problem that we sometimes had of a strip of lamination coming off on the inside of the bag and ending up in the meal. We have also added an easy opening strip to the bottom of the bag. We still have a few of the old styled bags to use for about another month.

We have a reasonable amount of our grain contracted already however the one ingredient I haven’t got contracted is soy meal. At the start of COVID soy went up in price and peaked at about $850 per tonne. It has since dropped to below $700, however I have still held off as I think the NZ dollar might rise against the USA and relationships between the USA and China don’t appear that good which might also cause the price to drop (China is USA’s biggest soy customer).

We will have a floating price again this year however we don’t anticipate it changing too much.

Spring Prices 2020 effective from July 1st

High Octane Aoraki Calf Meal        40 x 25kg              $748 + GST ex our yard

Low Protein Aoraki Calf Meal        40 x 25kg               $718 + GST ex our yard

Kind Regards

Ken

It's that time of year again and yes it has come around again all too fast. Been a bit happening in my life, I'm proud to say I am now a Grandad which is awesome. I've leased out all our farm land which is also awesome and has allowed me to get back on the road visiting some customers during autumn. Due to work load in the off season (generally playing catch up with work on the farm) I had not been able to do this for the last two years. And while I haven't visited all customers I certainly have visited quite a number.

I broke my right arm in January while Mountain Biking which stopped me from working for 10 weeks. Have to admit I was a bit casual on bike maintenance, I had been having problems with the front hydraulic brakes on my bike for a month or so but generally I could pump them back up to pressure, however on this day I had brake failure in the rear as well. And as I had started at the top of a steep downhill trail I quickly found out that I needed more than 2 seconds to get them working. As for the brakes they had to be completely replaced, apparently after biking 6000+km they were completely worn out.

Read more: August 2019

I had expected to get all the way through September with the prices we started the season with however with sales up by more than 25% we have had to use free market priced grain from mid-September. And with barley and wheat now costing us on average $55 per tonne above budget I decided to bring the price review forward and make the new price effective for all deliveries after September 23rd.

Read more: October 2017

Some of you will have noticed we have received the new bags and while the quality of the print isn’t at the usual high standard, the quality of the cloth is much better. In past years we have had a number of damaged bags and it’s very frustrating when you fill a bag, weigh it, sew it and only when you stack it onto the pallet you find it has cuts in it. So far there has been hardly any damaged bags which makes the baggers job easier and quicker. By using bags made in China we save over $10 per tonne.

Read more: September 2017

Apologies for not making my annual visit this year, the reasons for my no show will be explained in the next newsletter or two. During the last week of June we were able to finalise more contracts for the supply of our raw materials. One of our main cost drivers is soy bean meal and it’s always a bit of a gamble picking when to contract as the price fluctuates so much. This year I’ve got lucky and have contracted 90% of what I think we require at a very good price. Peas are also secured and at a slightly lower price than last year, however, molasses has increased by 10%.

Grain is proving to be the tricky one, we do have a proportion of our wheat contracted but didn’t do so well on the barley. Grain prices have moved up by about a third compared to this time last year. I generally find that September is a crucial month for grain prices and it will depend on how much buying interest there is from the dairy sector as to which way the prices move. There is a lot of feed grade wheat in storage however its price has been dragged by a perceived shortage in barley. This has been the first year I’ve seen wheat prices lower than barley. As a consequence we have decreased the barley slightly and replaced it with wheat which means there will be a slight lift in protein and energy levels in the meal.

Calf Meal prices effective from July 1 2017

High Octane Aoraki Calf Meal 40 x 25kg: $656 + GST ex Feedmill
Low Protein Aoraki Calf Meal 40 x 25kg: $624 + GST ex Feedmill

I thought we had enough bags in stock to get the season started however autumn production and sales this year have been more than 100% above what we have averaged the previous three years. As a consequence we will run out of High Octane bags later this month or early August. There is a full container of our bags on its way from China though there are doubts that it will reach here in time. So don’t be surprised if there are a few weeks where we are using plain bags.

Facebook

I am currently in the process of setting up a Facebook page which will be called Aoraki Stockfoods Ltd – Aoraki Calf Meal. While I will still send out newsletters Facebook will allow me to communicate news more frequently if required (for example if we have a power cut and we need to ration out supplies). And hopefully I will be able to show our newsletters on Facebook as I’m aware they are currently not always seen by the calf rearer, I will also try and post some general happenings with the intent of jogging your memory (or the calf rearers) that you need to order more meal rather than you remembering once you are out completely.

I have enclosed our brochure for your interest and feel free to pass it on. I’ve also included some more information regarding the development of the rumen papillae.

Rumen development: the key to success

The Pennsylvania State University is a public, land-grant, research-intensive university and you may have seen photos of Rumen comparisons from different feeding strategy’s in our brochure. The following is taken directly from their website and illustrates the importance of having a dry feed that is attractive as possible to encourage early intake it’s also worth remembering that on average calves have 27,000 taste buds as compared to us having only 9,000.

First a quick review of rumen development, which is essential for a successful early weaning program. When the calf begins to eat dry feed, especially starter, the rumen begins to supply nutrients produced by fermentation and the population of rumen bacteria begins to grow. Fermentation of the starch component of grain produces volatile fatty acids (VFA), particularly butyrate, which stimulate growth of rumen papillae and metabolic activity in the rumen. After about 3 weeks of eating grain, the calf’s rumen will have enough bacteria fermenting enough feed to supply a substantial amount of energy.

The rumen bacteria themselves also provide an important source of nutrition—microbial protein—as they are washed out of the rumen, digested, and absorbed in the small intestine. Microbial protein is very digestible and contains a very favourable profile of amino acids relative to the needs of the growing calf.

From a management standpoint, we can assist rumen development by providing free-choice water and a quality grain in the first few days after birth. With this feeding strategy, by 3 to 4 weeks of age the calf’s rumen can be well-developed and ready for the change to a diet of solid feeds. The sooner starch is digested by the calf, the sooner rumen development occurs. It takes about 21 days to develop the rumen papillae from the initial time that grain is fed. This development time is from when grain is first fed, be it 2 days of age or 20 days of age. That is where management plays a big role in determining rumen development and weaning age. Assisting the calf in eating those first few bites of grain can have dramatic, positive effects on starting the process of rumen development.

When calves nuzzle Aoraki Calf Meal it sticks to their nose
they then lick it off giving them their first taste.

When the calves are less than 4 weeks of age, calf meal is best kept fresh so buy little and often.

Cheers

Ken Buckingham

Dear Customers

Pricing of nearly all the raw materials continue to soften slightly and while I don't foresee us dropping the calf meal price at this stage there is certainly less risk of it increasing.

Calf Meal prices effective from July 1 2016

High Octane Aoraki Calf Meal 40 x 25kg: $630 + GST ex Feedmill
Low Protein Aoraki Calf Meal 40 x 25kg: $595 + GST ex Feedmill

Having trouble opening the bags? Can't work out which side to open them on? Two ways to remember, one is when facing the label always start on the left side and the second is when looking closely at the stitching you will see loops and when facing the loops start on the left side (loopy lefty). I will often use a nail, thread it through the stitching right at the edge of the bag, break the stitch there and then it often starts unravelling easy.

In the past when we had bulk canola oil delivered they sent a truck with a pump on it and pumped into our tanks. This year there is a different delivery company and they relied solely on gravity. I had my doubts that he would be able to transfer it all from the tanker however I am pleased to say he was successful though it did take longer and getting the last bit out definitely required more work.

The Good

Congratulations to Mark and Julie Cressey who are sharemilkers for the Proprietors of Rakaia Incorporation. They operate the Tahu a Tao farm at Dorie which won the 2016 Ahuwhenua Trophy for Maori Excellence in Farming. Mark invited me to a field day held on farm in March, it was a very enjoyable and informative day where they had to explain their farming practices to us visitors as well as the judges.

The Bad

It was a bit after 3am and I happened to be watching TV (not unusual for that hour of the morning) when a vehicle went past slowly making a hang of a racket. I looked out the window however due to darkness couldn't see much. A few minutes later the dog started barking so I went outside where I could hear voices and see torch light up the road 300 metres. Then there was a small boom and a car took off in a hell of a hurry. It was time to call 111, turned the car had been towed away from its owners property (which is close to the middle of Waimate) early the previous afternoon. And in the fourteen hours they had stripped out the rotary engine, gearbox and once on the side of the road they also quickly removed the mag wheels before setting it alight.

The Irony

About 4 years ago we started an extension to the smoke room and for various reasons I finally wanted it finished. During the installation of a new hand basin and vanity the builder tried to remove the sliding draw for easy access to the back so he could screw it to the wall however after a period of time he gave up in frustration. Next come the plumber who also tried to remove the drawer and this time used a bit more force. The drawer would still not yield and it no longer opened and shut quite as smoothly. I certainly wasn't prepared to try after all if experienced tradies couldn't remove it I had no chance. Then it was time for Shona to clean up after the tradies had left and to my amazement she popped the drawer out instantly, sometimes you just can't beat a woman's touch.

Cheers

Ken Buckingham

Our Competitive Price Advantage

Ironically some farmers have not brought meal off us in the past as they deemed us to be too cheap. However we do have a competitive price advantage for the following reasons;

• Aoraki Stockfoods is debt free, there is no debt servicing costs to be passed on.
• Our farm pays the rates bill, another saving.
• I am a firm believer in KISS (keep it simple stupid) so our feedmill is not “High Tech” and while I do embrace technology, keeping the feedmill simple keeps costs down and allows us to do more of the R&M ourselves.
• We have very efficient, productive and low cost feedmill.
• We don’t employ salesman, when it comes to doing sales I’m it.
• No receptionist, I personally take the orders as our 0800 number is permanently connected to my cell phone plus I encourage customers to text in their orders.
• I take calculated risks on when to contract raw materials, and while I don’t always get it right so far this year having no early grain contacts is proving to be a significant advantage.

We could make a cheaper meal simply by removing canola oil, peas, extract instant and product X from our calf meal. And then include palm kernel meal and other cheap fillers. However I was a commercial pig farmer for more than 20 years so I know how important it is not to cut corners. It’s essential to feed animals on a best cost basis rather than a least cost basis.

Our price remains the same for August however during August we will take delivery of some lower priced raw materials which should allow us to drop the price further on September 1:

High Octane Aoraki Calf Meal 40x25kg $710 + GST ex Feedmill

Low Protein Aoraki Calf Meal 40x25kg $680 + GST ex Feedmill

Sweet taste

Calves have 25000 taste buds compared to our 9000 and research has shown calves have a strong preference for sweet solutions. Using calf meal with a sweet taste significantly increases feed intake.

We have been using a sweetener in our calf meal since our visit to the animal feed flavouring factory in France 2012. The product we use (which for commercial reasons we call product “X”) is a high intensity sweetener for animal feed. Product X also has a “Gut Effect” in that it increases glucose, water and sodium absorption and acts on the epithelial structure by stimulating intestinal development.

Or to put it more technically, these gut effects increase the number of glucose transporters on gut epithelial cells, which absorb nutrients from the intestine. Higher glucose absorption provides better nutrition of the villi and gut mucosa, and thereby increases the intestinal surface area and villi height, improving the intestine’s integrity and absorption capability.

Product “X” offers a practical means for enhancing glucose utilisation and also increases feed attractiveness and feed intake, improving feed efficiency and growth rates.

Some calf rearing tips and comments recently posted on a public Facebook page:

• Make sure they have to work for their milk, with the teat being no more than 60 cm from the ground.
• It’s all to do with the milk going into the right stomach so it is processed properly therefore not getting scours.
• Make sure they have to kink their neck down and have their noses up for feeding then your pretty much right.
• Milk is going to be warmed up to calf body temperature either before the calf is fed by us or afterwards by the calf. In cold weather and young calves it is far better to use electricity and save calf energy for more vital functions.
• Warm colostrum (38°C tops) also increases enzyme activity and therefore improves digestion, leading to better chances of a high immunoglobulin uptake into the blood stream and better immunisation.
• Make sure you have a good hygiene system. A foot bath (for your boots) with good disinfectant, use before entering a pen. Regularly spray the pens as well. Keep feeders clean etc. Just stop the spread of bugs.
• Golden standard is an ALL IN ALL OUT system. Once calves go in a pen, they don’t leave until they all leave... You could make an exception for sick calves going to a ‘sick pen’ but even that approach is debatable as your sick pen will have an abundance of bugs floating around; the higher the infection pressure the harder for the calf to fight it off.
• Don’t over crowd your pens, have dry litter with no draughts. Be patient and compassionate they are babies and need more than a feeder chucked in front of them.
• Take the iodine bottle with you and spray navels as you put them in the trailer, and in the shed, (someone else suggested spray twice a day for a week) keep an eye out for infection (hot swollen navel).
• Clean water is essential.
• Hang some old dog chains in the pens. The calves LOVE playing with them and stops them from getting bored and getting into unwanted habits like ear/navel suckling.
• Or hang flax in pens, has something in it to help the stomach and keeps them busy all day chewing.

The meal advantage...

• Calves start eating meal at an earlier age, compared to pellets.
• Calves eat wet meal, but not wet pellets.
• You can see what is in the meal, nothing is hidden.
• Calves will lick the ground clean, very little is wasted.
• We know what really works... calf meal is what we specialise in.

Aoraki Calf Meal can be delivered to your farm, or you can uplift it directly from our Feedmill in Waimate.

Cheers

Ken Buckingham

Dear Customers

This newsletter contains information regarding pricing, product X and a bit about recent off farm activities. I’ve also included a couple of copies of our new brochure, have a read of it and then if possible please pass it on to another calf rearer who isn’t using our product. If this calf rearer subsequently buys one tonne or more of Aoraki Calf Meal we will send you a $75 gift voucher.

Pricing

As stated in the last newsletter my preference is to have a floating price rather than a fixed price for the whole season. And some years this means the price goes up as the price of raw materials increases and some years it drops. Last year it dropped three times.

Calf Meal prices effective from July 1 2016

High Octane Aoraki Calf Meal 40 x 25kg: $630 + GST ex Feedmill
Low Protein Aoraki Calf Meal 40 x 25kg: $595 + GST ex Feedmill

For our barley and wheat we have no fixed contracts, which presently is very advantageous as the spot market grain prices are the lowest they have been in a number of years. Latest indications are there is a more chance of further price drops rather than increases (though it can change quite quickly). This year we do have most of our peas contracted and the reason for this is that often peas are hard to source especially later in the year. On paper peas are usually not cost effective to use in calf meal, however I have always been a big believer in the benefits of feeding peas to a young animal.

Soybean Meal is always the tricky commodity to deal with. If you have a look at the top graph which shows $NZ per tonne you will see earlier this year it dived below $600 per tonne before rebounding and peaking at $840 per tonne just a few months later, currently it is sitting around $700. I have contracted 75% of what we used last season when it was below the $600.

The combination of being able to buy barley and wheat on the current market along with the soybean contracted at a low price is a proving to be a very good mix and giving us an even bigger competitive edge this season when it comes to low cost/high value. The question now is how much soybean meal will I need to buy on the spot market and what price will it be?

Info on ingredient Product “X”

For most of us sweetness (chocolate, cakes, sugary drinks, yip all the bad stuff) is the most attractive taste. Taste also plays an important role in calves as they have 25,000 taste buds compared to us humans having only 9000. Research has also shown calves have a strong preference for sweet solutions. Calf meal with a sweet taste significantly increases feed intake.

We have been using a sweetener in our calf meal since our visit to the animal feed flavouring factory in France 2012. The product we use, for commercially sensitive reasons, we will call product “X”

Driving feed intake and feed palatability is important in aiding calf development. In order to achieve rapid rumen development, early transition from milk to a solid based diet is encouraged. A study in the UK and one in France showed similar responses to product “X” and its ability to improve feed intake in calves, with calves consuming almost twice as much feed. This solid feed consumption drove a higher body weight at weaning.

Product X also has a “Gut Effect” in that it increases glucose, water and sodium absorption and acts on the epithelial structure by stimulating intestinal development.

Or to put it more technically, these gut effects increase the number of glucose transporters on gut epithelial cells, which absorb nutrients from the intestine. Higher glucose absorption provides better nutrition of the villi and gut mucosa, and thereby increases the intestinal surface area and villi height, improving the intestine’s integrity and absorption capability.
Gut effects and gut chemo-sensing is a relatively new field of study. However, more and more research is headed in this direction as they understand more about the function of the gut. The chemo-sensing ability of the gut enables the gut to control absorption of nutrients and therefore has implications in the utilisation of feed and feed conversion efficiency.

Product “X” offers a practical means for enhancing glucose utilisation while at the same time increasing feed palatability, driving feed intake. This leads to better feed conversion efficiency and improved growth on farm and all the consequential benefits that this brings to the producer.

During the summer of 2014/15 we hosted Yara, an exchange student from Austria for four months. Recently Yara visited us again for 10 days however this time she was accompanied by her identical twin sister Florentina. We always enjoy hosting people from different cultures and it often makes us take time out and have another look at some of the tourist activities that are on our doorstep. Spending at least a day in the MacKenzie Country is always a must however a couple of places we hadn’t been to before was the Steampunk HQ in Oamaru and EnkleDooVery Korna in Waimate.

EnkleDooVery Korna is owned and operated by a lady in her seventies and you get to hand feed and pat the wallabies. The girls were lucky enough to hold a baby wallaby, this normally wouldn’t happen until after Labour Weekend. Both places are well worth a visit and maybe at times we are guilty of taking such places for granted as there is no guarantee they will still exist in a few years’ time.

Cheers

Ken Buckingham

For our first newsletter for this season I am mainly focusing on coccidiosis disease. When a farmer has calves affected by coccidiosis, it’s often the last disease suspected and the health effects to the calves can be very severe, causing long term damage.

In 2011, we increased the level of Bovatec® in the calf meal by 50%. This was after feedback from some customers that they were getting calves affected by coccidiosis. Now even though the lasalocid sodium (active ingredient of Bovatec) is included at 135ppm, as opposed to the standard rate of 90ppm, we still get about 1 report per season of a farm being affected with coccidiosis. While this is less than 1% of our customers, this certainly causes a lot of problems for the farm that is affected.

Coccidiosis is a protozoan disease and all cows carry coccidial oocysts in the small and large intestines. Most cattle develop some immunity to it while continuing to shed a few oocysts in their faeces. Introducing new animals to the herd can introduce new variants of coccidial oocysts to which there is limited herd
immunity. Calves can handle a few oocysts, but a heavy load is another story. They are vulnerable because they have little immunity, particularly if they ingest a high number of immature protozoa in their environment that overwhelm their immune system.

Calves may carry the oocysts without affect until one of the following triggers sets it off; the presence of other pathogens, a change in diet, inadequate colostrum as a newborn calf, environmental factors including the use of small pastures year after year, crowding, poor hygiene, adverse weather (cold, wet or hot), transport, frequent regrouping of calves and bringing in new animals.

Preventive measures include minimising fecal contamination of the environment as when a calf lies in manure and licks itself, it ingests oocysts. When feeding straw or hay, ensure it doesn’t become contaminated with fecal matter. When the calves are no longer inside the sheds, clean the sheds out before summer as this allows dry hot weather to sterilize the pen.

Ionophores such as lasalocid (Bovatec®) and monensin (Rumensin®) and are included in calf meals because they increase feed efficiency and also act as a coccidiostat, hindering multiplication of coccidial oocysts. However according to one American website they should be considered as one of the preventive measures rather than for treatment and control.

You can see from this graph that as Aoraki Calf Meal has Bovatec® included at higher inclusion rates, protection is gained earlier. However, note the calf could be 5 weeks old before it gains sufficient protection. If it is has ingested oocysts during the period of non-protection and then suffers from one of the triggers already listed, then there is a high risk of coccidiosis occurring.

One of our customers who have previously had coccidiosis in their calves now dose their calves with Baycox® C at day 14 which gives the calf protection from day 21. They have found this to be very effective, but it is an additional cost.

Another customer, Phillipa Gillies, had calves affected by coccidiosis about 6 years ago. Phillipa reared 850 calves on their dairy farm last season using the same calf pens multiple times without any issues. Here is her recipe for successful calf rearing.

One dose per calf of ImmuStart® on day 1 before they get any colostrum. This helps to provide protection against Rotavirus, E coli, Salmonella, Cryptosporidia, Coronavirus and also contains probiotic bacteria. Phillipa no longer vaccinates her cows for Rotavirus. She also uses Dancalf® plus in the milk from Day 5 through until weaning at 80kg to prevent coccidiosis. She also feeds 1.5 litres of milk twice a day for 5 days, then the calves go outside and receive 3 litres once a day until weaning. Straw is used in the calf pens and between each batch of calves the pen is sprayed with disinfectant and a generous new layer of straw is added. Phillipa has not had to treat any calves for coccidiosis since adopting this regime and has a very low mortality rate in her calves. ImmuStart® and Dancalf Plus® are both Nutritech products and can be purchased from most farm merchandise outlets.

For more information regarding these products visit www.nutritech.co.nz or email me.

2016 Pricing

Not all of the pricing for the raw materials has been finalised yet, however we will be dropping the price from July 1 by $26 per tonne for the High Octane and $30 per tonne for the Low Protein, as per past seasons the price will be a floating price rather than fixed. More details of pricing will be in the August newsletter.

Calf Meal prices effective from July 1 2016

High Octane Aoraki Calf Meal 40 x 25kg: $630 + GST ex Feedmill
Low Protein Aoraki Calf Meal 40 x 25kg: $595 + GST ex Feedmill

Remember when the calves are less than 4 weeks of age, calf meal is best kept fresh so buy little and often.

Cheers

Ken Buckingham

ome of our raw materials prices have continued to decline in price so we are able to drop our prices for the second month in a row, admittedly the price drops aren’t large, however we are pleased to pass on what savings we can.

December and January Prices

High Octane Plus 40 x 25kg - $656 + GST & Freight - (decrease of $8 per tonne)
Low Protein Plus 40 x 25kg - $618 + GST & Freight - (decrease of $10 per tonne)

Off season

Our feedmill does operate all year round, although some months in the off season production is very light, we keep very little calf meal in stock (maybe a handful of bags). However we keep a small stock of raw materials and we are usually working on farm, so more calf meal can be made reasonably quickly. If required we can also do custom mixing during this period especially for older stock or calves that are 100+kg.

Pallets

If you have a reasonable number of pallets (say 5+) that are either ours or suitable for us to use please let me know. Preferably I need to pick up 30+ per trip to make it worth my while. And while I don’t want to spend too much time in the summer driving around picking up pallets I do need to build the numbers back up again, there is over 500 pallets still missing at the moment.

Overseas travel ribbing

Writing a newsletter solely about calf meal and calf rearing for 6 months each year is a bit tough, so it’s time to talk travel. I get a bit of ribbing about travelling overseas, though like a lot of farmers, working 7 days a week is the norm even if it is only part days in the weekend (rest of the weekend often revolves around riding mountain bikes or building mountain bike tracks) so to get a break where you really switch off requires travelling a bit further away and even better if there is no cell phone reception. Last June Shona and I flew to Cairns, hired a motorhome which was a new experience and one we really enjoyed, and did a bit of a road trip. Highlights were spending Queens Birthday weekend in Cooktown (about 300km north of Cairns - population 2300) where they were holding a Cooktown Discovery Festival.

This was a lot of fun, with lots of action from tug of war, billy cart racing – which was old style with complete disregard for health and safety, which made it more exciting and dangerous for participants and spectators. There were also talent quests, street parade, James Cook arrival re-enactment, fire dancing and fireworks with crowds that you would count in the hundreds rather than the thousands.

Chillagoe was a fascinating outback town (200km inland from Cairns, population 200) with its caves, historic mines and the spectacular limestone ridges that continue to gradually dissolve from the rain. I enjoyed the drive to Chillagoe though at times we had to travel very slowly as the corrugations in the road weren’t kind to the drawers and cupboards.

We also stayed two nights at the Eureka Creek Bush Rodeo which is held on Eureka Creek Station. The Rodeo was great to watch and carried on under lights finishing at about 10pm which was when the band started. Most competitors and spectators arrived on the Friday and camped bush style for two nights. Seeing all the different styles of campsites and all the campfires going at night was a real eye-opener.

Wherever we stayed we mainly met Australians, with some real characters amongst them, they were all friendly and great to talk too. Australia is an easy country to visit, with driving on the same side of the road, talking a similar language, easy to get away from the crowds (we love the outback) and the weather is normally good. The campervan cost about $100 a day plus fuel, some nights we freedom camped and others we stayed at caravan parks. Travelling by campervan meant we were able stock up with groceries at a supermarket keeping our food costs to a minimum. If you are patient and wait for the specials holidaying in Australia can cost similar or less than holidaying in NZ.

Even though we were off farm I couldn’t help taking notes and photos of the different types of farms we were seeing, talking to people we met about farming, plus we stayed 2 nights on an organic beef farm.

New Newsletter

Our next newsletter will be in June 2016. And I look forward to visiting a number of you either late summer or early autumn. We thank you for your support this year and look forward to doing business with you again. We wish you, your families and staff a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Cheers

Ken Buckingham