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.

Pricing for 2019

The good news is that the price dropped on June 1st. The new price is

• High Octane Aoraki Calf Meal $734 per tonne + GST - ex Feedmill
• Low Protein Aoraki Calf Meal $706 per tonne + GST - ex Feedmill

It was a difficult growing season for local cropping farmers and after being so wet, and then a bit of a hot patch around Christmas, yields were not only reduced but quality is also very variable especially with barley. So with this in mind we went to the market in the autumn to secure grain for spring delivery. This means we have contracted more grain than usual and it should be the better grain that we receive. Naturally it is a real guessing game to what our requirements will be for the season and I contracted slightly less that what I think we need better to go back to the market for more rather than have too much and have to store to next season.

Soy meal continues to be the commodity that fluctuates a lot in price. It had been consistently dropping in price for a number of months due to the trade war between USA and China, before all of a sudden bouncing up due to wet weather in May and June which has slowed plantings in USA. We did contract a reasonable amount at a good price which is the main reason for the calf meal price dropping, however if I had known it was going to rise I would have contracted more.

With the contracts that we do have in place I am confident that we can hold this new price until the end of October and hopefully longer.

Cheers

Ken Buckingham