Long journey worth it for expo

Northland farmers Sheryl and Peter Tonkin on their Advantage Feeders stand at the East Coast Farming with Technology Expo yesterday in Wairoa - a round trip of almost 1300km from their home at Matakohe. Photo / Warren Buckland

It may be more than 600km from home and it took a day or so to get there, but for Northland sheep and beef farmers Sheryl and Peter Tonkin the East Coast Farming with Technology Expo in Wairoa is both "ideal" and "essential".

The couple are among 50 exhibitors at the expo, on yesterday and today at the Wairoa Showgrounds and staged by the Wairoa A and P Society.

It is the latest addition to an agricultural trade shows circuit which takes the Tonkins as far south as Gore.

That's a big haul from Matakohe (about 3km from the famous Kauri Museum) and one which gave them bragging rights before the expo even began. Departing from their Eyton Farms home, they'd travelled farther than any other attendees.

They don't only do sheep and beef farming and breeding. They also market feeding systems, and are in Wairoa - as they were at the Central Districts Field Days in Feilding last month and will be at the National Agricultural Fieldays near Hamilton next month - as New Zealand representatives for Advantage Feeders.

They've been doing that since 2011, but this is their first visit in the role to the eastern region, although Mrs Tonkin recalls a visit to the Poverty Bay A and P Show some years ago.

The A and P shows don't always suit the business' operation, so she is excited about the opportunities in Wairoa during the expo.

"This area has been needing something like this for a long time," she said.

"Yes, an expo is essential," she said. "People still like to touch and see and feel things. "People do go on websites but they like most of all to be in touch."

The Wairoa A and P Society decided to stage the expo, hopefully as an annual event, because it believed farmers in the region don't have easy access to newer technology and innovations and that the internet doesn't give the face-to-face interaction with the experts that farmers need.

Advantage Feeders was started in 2006 by Gerard Roney, now the CEO and based in Victoria. Having grown up on a sheep and cropping property, he developed his main product, the grain feeder, while at university.

In 2005 he bought 1000 ewes, but found that the feeders he bought could not offer a low enough ration.

He wanted to feed 250g/head/day but the feeders had only one adjusting slide. The lowest consistent ration he was able to feed was 600/head/day, and he found the cost of feed and feeding too expensive, and struggled to find time to constantly feed the sheep.

Roney developed the Advanced Adjustment System, which limits sheep to accessing only what they can touch with their tongue at any one time.

Features on the first day of the expo yesterday were a series of seminar presentations, focusing on such topics as farm governance and succession planning.

Seven presentations will be made today, culminating in an address by Progressive Meats managing director Craig Hickson on technological developments in the meat industry.