Livestock report: Good news for the dairy industry

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Jamie Mackay from The Country caught up with the other Jamie – Jamie Cunninghame, National Dairy Specialist at PGG Wrightson – live from the farming capital of New Zealand – Feilding.

First topic for discussion was how the red-light system is affecting the Friday sale at the Feilding sale yards. Cunninghame said it wasn't a problem.

A vaccine pass is required to enter the sale yards and a face mask is required inside. With the sheep sale outside and cattle sale inside, it's manageable, he said.

Jamie Mackay then turned to Rabobank upping its milk forecast price for this season to $9.70 and the futures market for next season – already at $10.

He asked if this was affecting the price of cows, considering now was the time of year a lot of dairy herds were traded.

Comparative to the payout, some would say the herds hadn't reached the highs originally expected, Cunninghame said.

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But good herds were trading anywhere between $1850 and early two-thousands, he said.

Cunninghame said that while enquiries were strong, they hadn't "gone silly" like they did back in the dairy boom.

Overall, the outlook was positive with good milk prices justifying current herd prices, he said.

Jamie Mackay closed by asking whether the Manawatū is drying out like other parts of the country.

The other Jamie reckoned they're in need of another good rain but that all-in-all, the region's in good shape.