September 2024

Our Southern farmers are getting a battering from Mother Nature as I write this newsletter, just when we were managing some growth, a relief for the many of us struck who have been plagued by drought.

The past few months have been a bit of a whirlwind, between shearing, screening farms for the AgFirst programme, building a New Zealand Cashmere web app and picking up extra responsibility on our own farm as my father fell severely ill, it’s been a juggle.

We had a few new growers shearing this season who, in typical farmer fashion, just got on with the job, but they did find using a headbail was the easiest, and fastest way to get goats shorn. Every farmer I work with is surprised at how easy it is to shear cashmere goats – don’t believe the horror stories of the 80’s! If you’ve still got fibre to send away and are unsure about this process, please get in touch.

Our search in the South Island for an AgFirst Focus Farm is over, there was a huge surge of interest in the programme which had me on a number of farms from Southland through to North Canterbury in a short period of time. It was very hard to decide on who to choose for the project, the goats could have gone on any one of those properties and made a significant difference whether in weed/scrub control, improving liveweight gain finishing lambs under pivots, improving pasture quality or reducing mechanical topping. It really highlighted the versatility of the goat, and the opportunities goats present for a wide variety of farmers to improve their systems, or in the very least, take cost out of their system – helpful, in times like these!

Ultimately, we have decided to put these goats into a very diverse system – dairy grazing, sheep and beef breeding and finishing with velveting stags in Mayfield, mid-Canterbury. The focus here will be on reducing inputs in both weed control and pasture quality, as well as looking at how farmers can grow their hoggets out better and faster. When the goats are on the ground, we will get to sharing this story and keep an eye out for the field days which will be held in autumn and spring each year.

As the grass is beginning to grow, so are the weeds, now is a good time to do some planning for how you can utilise your cashmere flock as a tool to combat weeds. Remember goats will eat over 60% of their diet in weeds and seedhead, eating over 16 different plant species than sheep and cattle at various stages of growth. If you’d like to learn more, check out the Farmer Handbook online and/or get in touch, I’m happy to help formulate a plan with you to improve that pasture quality.

Kidding is just around the corner, hopefully you have your does set-stocked in a well sheltered paddock ready to kid. It’s a timely reminder after this week of cold weather to ensure you have some sheltered spots for kids to be tucked away in and to turn off the power to low outriggers – kids will often tuck up to a fence line in the wet.

If you are going to have surplus animals for sale this season, please let me know as soon as you can so we have ample time to place animals into new homes – a weeks’ turnaround is not enough!

Cheers,

Liv