The No 8 Wire: Facial eczema on agenda

A sheep in the early stages of facial eczema.

Facial eczema and the fallout from this year's infestation will be high on the agenda of today's Beef + Lamb NZ regional director forum in Hawke's Bay.

The 2pm-5pm forum led by director George Tatham in the Sherenden Hall, west of Hastings, will include an array of speakers including FE research and education group co-ordinator Ken Geenty with advice on managing eczema following the challenges with stock many have had through the autumn and winter.

Like some of their stock, some farmers were proving to be stragglers when it comes to registering for the forum, but B + L NZ was still expecting a good turnout for the event, which follows a similar forum led by Mr Tatham in the Gisborne region yesterday.

Come on brother!

History-making Hawke's Bay shearer Matt Smith, who in July became the first person to set a world shearing record in the northern hemisphere with a new nine-hour strongwool ewes tally of 731, is now prompting brother and world champion Rowland Smith to have a crack at one of his own former records.

Speaking to the UK Farmers Weekly, Matt Smith said he still has a feeling of "unfinished business" about the world eight-hour ewe shearing record of 603 set by Stacey Te Huia in the King Country in December 2010, when he broke the previous record set by Matt Smith the previous January.

"I would like my brother to have a go because I definitely rate him as being one of the few people capable of it," he said.

Rowland Smith, who with third Smith brother Doug holds the two-stand record for eight hours, does have more to concentrate on in the meantime, hoping to defend his world champion title in Invercargill in February.

Banking on it

Farmer satisfaction with banks remains strong despite what some are experiencing as "undue pressure" from the banks, according to a Federated Farmer survey.

National president Dr William Rolleston says sharemilkers continue to be most vulnerable when it comes to dealing with banks and the data shows they are the least satisfied.

Other farming types, particularly sheep and beef, are not reporting nearly the same extent of bank pressure and their satisfaction levels remain relatively strong.

In relation to mortgages, 12 per cent of all farms and 16 per cent of dairy farms are coming under "undue pressure" from their banks, and 9.2 per cent and 12.2 per cent respectively are coming under "undue pressure" around overdrafts.

All are up on the May survey and continue a steady upwards trend evident since last August.

The survey shows 80 per cent of all farmers and 78.4 per cent of dairy farmers were 'very satisfied' or 'satisfied' with their banks.