No Time to Sit and Take Stock
By TACON, Terry
TARANAKI dairy farmers wanting to buy cows may find them hard to obtain because of pressure from South Island buyers.
This from the livestock manager for Allied Farmers, John Kelly, who said local farmers should not delay getting into the market if they were thinking about buying dairy livestock.
“With indications from Fonterra that the upcoming season’s payout is moving into the $5 range, plus underlying export interest and the continued growth of South Island dairying, we see no reason why demand will wane, and we believe that our part in this trade will continue to be strong,” Mr Kelly said.
South Island buyers were first to the market this season and secured a high percentage of total herds sold pre-Christmas.
“There has been unabated activity in this market since October.
“Approximately 28% of the dairy cattle sold by our regional teams for the new dairy season will be heading over the Cook Strait this month and next.
“We see this buying demand from the south remaining solid in the upcoming season, and so are advising local buyers to get in touch with our agents early,” Mr Kelly said.
“Local regional buyers fired up later so we were only able to meet this demand as a result of having strong agent teams in the main dairying regions finding the right herd to suit clients’ needs.”
Mr Kelly said strong southern demand had kept prices firm despite a drop-off in export activity.
Allied Farmers is a leading supplier of dairy cattle to both China and Mexico.
“We believe current domestic values that dairy livestock are achieving are making the sensitivities of moving these cattle offshore more marginal than previously.
“However, our client contacts in Mexico lead us to believe that they will again enter our market in the new season now that the political landscape there has settled down.” Allied sent a shipment to China in a very quiet year for that market, and was the preferred supplier of an “interesting” trial of 800 yearling beef heifers destined for South Korean feedlots. “Specification was they had to be female and totally red in colour – no white!”
Mr Kelly noted that in 2005 the Fonterra payout was $4.58 and an average in-calf dairy cow cost $1090. In 2006 the payout was $4.10 and the same cow cost an average $1150.
“This season the payout will be approximately $4.35 and our current records show the average will be toward $1170. If Fonterra continues to lift the payout and dairy growth continues in key regions it can only mean firmer prices for livestock.”
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(c) 2007 Daily News; New Plymouth, New Zealand. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.