1. Home
  2. Search
All
News and Articles
Research
Courses and Events
Videos and Webinars
Community posts
People
Displaying 1 - 20 of 28

Dairy Farm Succession: Rural Professionals working with family dairy farming businesses

There has been little research conducted on rural professionals' contribution to succession planning despite their important role here. This proposed research with Rural Professionals working with dairy farming business clients on succession planning and implementation will expand on the Centre’s previous succession work. An understanding of Rural Professionals’ practices in advising family farm business on succession will help identify on-going...

New Zealand Dairy Farming Novice Employers

Employment relations and/or human resource management (HRM) is an important and increasingly integral element of dairy farming for many New Zealand dairy farmers. In order to assist DairyNZ enhance their efforts to assist novice dairy farm employers develop capabilities and expertise in employment relations this research addresses two research questions: 1. How do novice dairy farm employers develop strategies for...

How Dairy Consultants Help Farmers Design Improved Farming Systems

There is concern in the farm management consultancy field about the aging population of consultants and the lack of succession planning. One of the factors constraining the employment of new consultants is the time and cost required for training in this field. To help overcome this problem DairyNZ have developed a training programme for new consultants based around the whole...

Migrant Workers and the Growth of Dairy Farming in Southland

The New Zealand dairy industry has undergone a substantial period of growth over the last ten years as more sheep, beef, and crop farms have been converted to dairy farming. A major problem for dairy farm employers is sourcing quality and skilled New Zealanders to work on their farms. Migrant labour has been used to mitigate these labour shortages, but...

Future Farm Management Options for Smaller Dairy Farms

In the last thirty years the size of the average New Zealand dairy herd has almost tripled (Dairy Statistics, 2013). Despite this growth, 36% of herds are considered small with less than 250 cows, so it is important to develop an understanding of the goals, future business and farm management strategies of owners of small farms. Thirteen owners of small...

Successful Dairy Farm Employment Relations: People-Focused Employers

Dairying has become a mainstay of the New Zealand economy and has changed dramatically this decade. As farm size continues to increase, New Zealand dairy farmers are moving away from their primary role as production managers and have to place far greater emphasis on employment relations. Employment relations is seen as one of the key areas of risk for New...

The Usefulness and Efficacy of Linear Programming Models as Farm Management Tools

This study evaluated the usefulness and efficacy of linear programming (LP) models, and the Grazing Systems Ltd (GSL) model in particular. The GSL model was selected because it is the only LP model available for use in the farm business environment in New Zealand. Two approaches were used to evaluate the usefulness and efficacy of LP models and the GSL...

Mobile Milking System

This project looked into the use of a mobile milking system (MMS) in New Zealand dairying. In a MMS, a movable milking shed is taken to the cows instead of the cows walking to a permanent milking shed. The aim of the project was to gather the ideas from interested people through interviews and an on-line survey. Using a MMS...

The use of a Makov transition probability model to explain the distributon of dairy herd size over time.

The aim of this study was to develop a Markov transition probability model to describe the underlying dynamics of the movement of dairy farms between herd-size categories in New Zealand. Stationary and non-stationary Markov transition probability models were formulated conditional on 3 exogenous variables, milk solids payout, milk solids production per cow and dairy land sales to predict the annual...

The Estimation of Technical Efficiencies of Dairy Farms in the Waikato and Marlborough-Canterbury Regions

The aims of this study were: To use the input-oriented data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology to estimate technical efficiencies of dairy farms in the Waikato and Marlborough-Canterbury regions To test the difference between the DairyNZ defined farm systems for the estimated technical efficiencies and other farm data Milk solids, farm size, peak cows milked, labour and operating farm expenditure were...

Farm Tools for Rural Professionals

Farm tools (software, packages, apps) are used by farmers and consultants to assist with farm decision making. Consequently, industry plus DairyNZ and Red Meat Profit Partnership as it's representatives, are interested in the availability of farm tools and how these are used. The Centre has had a farm tools project underway since 2010/11. The previous work has had both a...

Resilience of New Zealand Dairy Farm Businesses

Resilience is a prerequisite for achieving sustainability in a turbulent environment. It is defined as an ability to adjust, either within a system, as with buffer capacity, or across systems, as with adaptability and transformability. It reflects the flexibility a farm business has to respond to and learn from shocks, both negative and positive. The focus of this research was...

New Zealand Dairy Farmers and Risk: Perceptions of, Attitude to, Management of and Performance under Risk and Uncertainity

New Zealand dairy farmers are exposed to considerable uncertainty. However this uncertainty provides both opportunities and threats for New Zealand dairy farms and often it is the capacity of the farm manager to interpret and respond to external (and internal) information that determines the extent of the advantage or disadvantage that is eventually realized. The aim of this research was...

Successful Dairy Farm Employment Relations: Barriers to Becoming a People-Focused Employer

As farm size continues to increase, New Zealand dairy farmers are moving away from their primary role as production managers and having to place far greater emphasis on employment relations. Employment relations is seen as one of the key areas of risk for New Zealand dairy farmers. Despite considerable investment in this area, it is still seen as a problem...

Dairy On-Farm Financial Risk Project: Cross-Case Report

In the last five years, New Zealand dairy farmers have increased debt-levels, while also experiencing increased price and cost volatility. Management ability is a key determinant of how farmers’ successfully manage risk in this increasingly volatile environment. Research indicates that farmer perceptions of attitudes toward and choice of tactics to manage both upside and downside risk are influenced not only...

Identification and Classification of Farm Tools and Apps

DairyNZ asked the Centre of Excellence in Farm Business Management to investigate the use of farm tools by rural professionals and farmers. In 2011, James Allen and Sjaak Wolfert did a stocktake of farm management tools used by farmers and rural professionals in Australasia as part of this work. The 2012 work added to these findings. The farm tools identified...

Dairy Farm Succession: Information Evaluation

A lack of quality information on farm succession was identified as being of concern to New Zealand dairy farmers. Participants at eight focus groups (4 with dairy farm owners and 4 with the younger generation) were asked for their opinions on resources available and those needed. This information is available to assist the Centre of Excellence in Farm Business Management...

Dairy Farm Succession: Intergenerational Communication

Effective communication between generations is essential for successful transfer of family farm businesses. However, there have been few studies on inter-generational communication in farm succession. Eight focus groups with dairy farm owners and the younger generation (mostly successors and siblings in their early 20s) were held throughout New Zealand to research this topic. A literature review was also done on...

Maori Farming Trusts

This preliminary scoping study investigates areas for possible improvement in the governance and management of large Māori dairy farm businesses. Building on the innovative practices of their tūpuna – including Rawiri Taiwhanga, the country’s first commercial dairy farmer – Māori are defining their own aspirations, realities and goals in the dairy farming world (Durie 1998, 2000). This report outlines these,...

Challenges and Opportunities for Precision Dairy Farming in New Zealand

This report presents research aimed at proposing a research agenda around the concept of precision dairy farming in New Zealand. The objectives of the project were: Examine the impact of precision dairy farming on farm performance, farm management practice and farming system profiles; Examine the adaptive management challenges precision dairy farmers have, and are facing; Develop an understanding of the...