Bright Wings

Dairy factory farming, Mackenzie Basin - follow-up

This week's NZ Listener has an excellent feature on the proposed dairy factory farming venture in the Mackenzie Basin.

In the iconic Mackenzie Basin, plans to factory farm cows are stirring up a storm. Farmers say irrigating the land is the only answer to their economic struggle. Environmentalists say this will destroy rare ecosystems. And the tourism industry fears the loss of a unique landscape. Who will save the Mackenzie, and how?

You'll need to purchase a copy of this week's issue of the NZ Listener to read the full feature, or wait until it is available online, on 23 January 2010.  Very worthwhile holiday reading.

Things to do in the Wairarapa these holidays

 

View across the Wairarapa plains from the Tararua Ranges

Top 10 things to do in the Wairarapa these holidays. 

1. The new Wairarapa Family Pass provides access to four of the region’s top family attractions at an affordable price:

• entry for two adults and two children to Pukaha Mt Bruce wild life centre, 
• the Genesis Energy Recreation Centre in Masterton, 
• Shear Discovery, 
• Cafe Solway and Golf Driving Range (four buckets of golf balls)
• free desserts at Apache Jack's family restaurant in Kuripuni. 

The pass costs only $60 but is valued at over $100, so kids effectively go free. 

Buy passes at the Masterton or Martinborough i-SITE Visitor Centres or by phoning 06 370 0900. 

More information at www.wairarapanz.com. 

 
 

2. Experience endangered wildlife up close at Pukaha Mt Bruce, only 20 minutes drive north of Masterton. See what is being done to save kiwi, tuatara, kokako, and kaka as well as experiencing the sights and sounds of an ancient forest in an interactive gallery. Take a walk under the beautiful forest canopy and watch the eels and kaka.

 
 

3. The windswept beach at Castlepoint is the perfect spot if you are looking for great Kiwi outdoor fun. Whether you are into walking across the reef to the Castlepoint Lighthouse, fossicking amongst the rock pools; surfing, swimming, golfing, canoeing or fishing this spectacular spot – voted No 75 on the AA’s 101 Must Do’s for Kiwis – is a must. Castlepoint is only one hour drive east of Masterton and best enjoyed from the beach with a feed of fish ‘n’ chips. 

4. For parents and grandparents wanting time out from the kids, spend a leisurely afternoon pedaling amongst the vineyards and olive groves of  Central Wairarapa with March Hare Cycling. This new cycling experience, located only 1 ½ hours from Wellington, offers visitors the chance to hire bicycles and explore Opaki, one of New Zealand’s up and coming wine regions. 

Director Gretchen Bunny, says the self guided cycling tour has been specially designed to give an insiders look around the area only five minutes north of Masterton. And a chance to sample fresh local produce, a variety of wines and olive oils. 

Starting at Loop Line Olives visitors cycle cross country on quality and comfortable bikes taking with them an easy to follow map. A well marked route guides visitors across farmland where along the way they can stop and enjoy a picnic of locally sourced produce. Cost is $65 per person and includes bike and helmet hire, a delicious picnic, a route map and exclusive access across private land.

5. Start the New Year with a country horse racing experience held at the picturesque Tauherenikau Racecourse near Featherston. Picnic under Kahikatea and Totara trees. It’s a great family day and an opportunity to try on your new summer dress. For more information phone 06 308 9026.

6. For those wanting something a little different, Greytown’s Puzzlewood has an extensive range of games and puzzles. Come along and see the holograms, play extra large board games and see yourself in distorting mirrors. There is also a mini maze. Picnic tables are in the garden where you can relax and have lunch and play outdoor games. Puzzlewood is open everyday during the school holidays.

7. The Wairarapa Art Review is on display at Aratoi Art and History Museum in Masterton and runs until January 17th. The Review, which has been held every two years since 1999, is open to all artists in the Wairarapa region. This year more than 120 entries were received of which 41 were selected for the exhibition with Masterton-based artist Kate Small claiming the supreme award with her painting Dermatology Plus. Aratoi is located on Bruce St, just across the road from the beautiful Queen Elizabeth Park, and is open seven days 10am – 4.30pm. 

8. Enjoy an afternoon of Blues and Jazz featuring Erna Ferry and Rodger Fox at Loopline Vineyard just north of Masterton on Sunday, January 10. Wine and gourmet finger food will be available with tickets $30.  All proceeds to Opaki School. 

9. For those wanting to contemplate the bigger picture these holidays Stonehenge Aotearoa is the perfect place.

Ten minutes from Carterton, Stonehenge Aotearoa is a window into the past where visitors can rediscover the knowledge of their ancestors. 

It is built on the same scale as Stonehenge in England but Stonehenge Aotearoa is not a replica.  It is a complete and working structure designed and built for its precise location. 

People can explore the mysteries of our past and learn how early cultures, including New Zealand Maori, used the Sun, Moon and stars for life and survival. 

Stonehenge Aotearoa is open December 27th - January 10th, from 10am to 4pm, with a guided tour at 2pm, except on Sundays when it runs at 11am.

10. A lifetime of cars and automotive history is on display at Gasoline Heaven, just north of Carterton. 

With everything from old enamel signs, to fuel bowsers, antique oil cans, boxes, and oil boys, this is one of the biggest single collections of its kind in New Zealand. 

Gasoline Heaven has an extensive range of automotive memorabilia, as well as a range of cars, trucks, hot rods, drag cars and customs which are constantly changing. 

Owner Bob Wilton also boasts a collection of English Ford Zephyr cars, along with a nostalgia dragster. There is a BBQ and picnic area, and tea and coffee is available. State Highway 2, Carterton, phone 06 3798933. 

More things to see

11. If aviation is more your thing, a superb collection of vintage World War I & II aircraft are on display at the Vintage Aviator, based at Hood Aerodrome on the outskirts of Masterton. Visitors can enjoy a guided tour on weekends at 11am, 1 and 3pm. 

There's a special Joyous Noel WW1 Air Display is on January 23 from 4.30pm until 7pm with gates opening at 3pm. There will be steam traction rides available as well as other entertainment. Adults $20pp, children under 17 $10pp, families $50. For more information phone Sara Randle on 021 311 606. 

Wellington Anniversary Weekend events

The Joyous Noel Air Display is one of many bumper events happening in the Wairarapa on Wellington Anniversary Weekend (January 23 – 25) – so why not pack up the car and come with your friends and family. 

Other events you can check out include the Greytown Arts Festival (January 23-25) which will showcase visual and performing artists from Wairarapa and further a field while free music, street performances and tours of the historic town’s parks and gardens will also be available. The highlight of the music programme will be the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra, which plays at the Kuranui College Performing Arts Centre (Te Whare o Moroa) on Saturday 23 January. Additional music events include a chamber concert by The Amazon Trio and an American Blues Night. 

13. Those with a penchant for wine and food will be well catered for during the Meandering Vineyard Lunch. Four Martinborough wineries Croft Wines, Coney Wines, Julicher Estate and Te Hera Estate will share their experiences and passion for wine and the region. Starting by bus in the Martinborough Square at 10.30am and returning at 5pm. Tickets are $135pp and available from the vineyards or Wineseeker, 86-96 Victoria St, Wellington. 

14. Heartland rugby will be on show on January 23 when the Hurricanes take on the Blues in a Super 14 pre-season match at the Mangatainoka Rugby Football Club grounds, right beside Tui Brewery. It’s been billed as a festival of sport with pre-match and post match entertainment. www.tui.co.nz  

15. For those just wanting to chill out, enjoy the scenery and test themselves against nature why not enter the Lake Ferry Fishing Competition, beginning at 9am. 

For more information on these events as well other events this summer visit www.wairarapanz.com

Christmas in the Wairarapa

 

One of the children from the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, St Andrew's, Upper Plain, Masterton, admires the nativity.

St Andrew's has a Candlelit "Midnight Mass" at 8.30 pm, Christmas Eve and a Christmas morning service at 9 am.

Details of other Wairarapa Anglican Christmas services, and for the lower North Island, are available here

Shoppers behaving badly

Peace and goodwill doesn't seem to be prerequisite for some Christmas shoppers who seem to think that being tired and stressed gives them the right to abuse retail staff, who are themselves under tremendous pressure at the busiest time of the year.

Don Farmer, Senior Reporter on the Wairarapa Times-Age, wrote the Saturday editorial about the sickening behaviour of some members of the public.

A supermarket worker I have known for years stopped me to tell me a sad tale of how he and his colleagues were being treated by Joe Public.

"This is the worst year ever, you wouldn't believe the abuse we are having to take."

This was backed up by others in the retail trade.

Many Wairarapa shop staff are having to endure unprovoked abuse for what is perceived as the smallest shortcomings - like the store being out of a particular line of stock for a day or so, or for being in the aisles as shoppers rip past (even though they were stocking shelves.)

Staff at other shops told me they had been roundly abused, with many customers freely using the infamous F word.

One woman said she had been spat at and another told she was bloody useless because she was unable to supply an item the shop had never stocked.

A man, estimated to be in his 60s, walked out of a shop, then pressed his face against the window and gave staff the two-fingered salute.

Remember that retail staff are people too, with feelings, who reach Christmas Eve in a state of exhaustion, only to return to work on Boxing Day so big-box retailers can cash in on the post-Christmas bonanza.

The Rose

The rose, it should be crowned with pearls of Arabia and Lydian gold.

Walafrid Strabo, The Little Garden (Hortulus), 9th century

Keep car headlights on over Christmas holidays

The Dog and Lemon Guide is recommending drivers have their headlights on at all times over the Christmas holidays.

Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson says a car with its headlights on is easier to spot than a car with its headlights off.

Many accidents occur because the other vehicle isn't seen. 

In the rain, mist or low light conditions, lights help identify the presence of moving cars. They also tell you if the car ahead is coming towards you or moving away from you – something that is not always obvious, especially if the car is in your lane.

The European Commission has ruled that all new cars operating in the EU must have daylight running lights from 2011.

According to Chris Coxon, former head of the Australian ANCAP crash test programme,

There is clear evidence that a policy requiring daytime headlight use would result in a significant reduction in the road toll. 

Because of the body of reputable research supporting this view, we have reached the conclusion that the New Zealand and Australian governments should institute a daytime headlight use policy without delay. 

A daytime "lights on" policy would cost the Government almost nothing to implement.

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And don't forget to turn the headlights off when you reach your destination.

Flawed audits leave rest home residents vulnerable

Serious failures in rest-home care have not been picked up because of poor Ministry of Health monitoring, the Auditor-General says. 

"Older people who live in rest homes are some of the most vulnerable in our society, so it is important to have effective arrangements for checking the quality and safety of rest-home services," she said.

Problems included

incompetent auditors, conflicts of interest where some auditors also acted as rest-home consultants, a failure to detect major problems, inadequate follow-up and inconsistencies between reports.

The Ministry uses eight designated agencies, and had known since 2004 that the agencies' auditing was "inconsistent and, in some cases, of a poor quality", but had not responded quickly enough.

DHBs felt they could not rely on agencies' audit results and many did their own audits.

There were also cases where agencies offered consultancy services to the rest homes they were auditing.

Most district health boards (DHBs) did not feel they could rely on agencies' audit findings, and many did their own audits. 

Easy Christmas recipes

 

If you are fast running out of time to make a Christmas cake I recommend Annabelle White's Super Simple Christmas Cake.

No time-consuming creaming of butter and sugar, you simply combine butter, sugar, brandy and fruit in a large saucepan, cool, then add flour and eggs. Really easy.  In recent years I've given up my tried-and-true recipes in favour of this. It tastes immediately like a cake that's been properly "aged."

If you want to make stand-out mince pies, Julie le Clerc has a wonderful Chocolate, Fig and Ginger Mince recipe.

Photo: Christian Ferrari, Genova, Italy

Questions remain about National Standards

 

Primary teachers are justifiably concerned about the National Standards, to be implemented in primary schools next year. And educational academics are backing them up.

There are two groups for whom National Standards are a particularly bad idea - low decile schools and those affected by a learning or developmental disability.

Low decile schools

For many children in low decile schools, just making it to school each day is an achievement in itself.  Unlike children from leafy suburbs, education is not seen as necessary to success in life.  They may live in a house with no books. There may be extreme domestic dysfunction, with a series of partners coming and going.

They may be hungry and arrive at school having had no breakfast. There may be untreated health conditions. 

If these children are to be tested, they need to use measurements that are relevant to them and recognise what may be for them significant achievement.  Where self-confidence is very fragile, to be told you've failed to achieve National Standards confirms the student's own opinion that they are "dumb."

Learning disabilities

Within my extended family of intelligent, thinking people, there are two who would have failed National Standards miserably. Yet both those people have gone on to have outstanding careers. In fact one is a Head of Department in a primary school. They were just late developers. They wouldn't have achieved appropriate milestones for their ages; they just did it later than others.

For some children with learning disabilities, just learning to write their name might be a huge achievement. Instead of celebrating a huge leap in learning for them, they will be branded in their own eyes as "dumb."

Radio New Zealand's Nine to Noon interviewed Frances Nelson, President of the NZEI, Professor John Hattie from the University of Auckland and the Education Minister Anne Tolley.

Update:  NZEI also concerned that National Standards will marginalise Maori students.

School Trustees and NZEI embroiled in fight over National Standards

Wairarapa SPCA Fundraiser Auction

 

The Wairarapa SPCA are holding a fundraising auction at the Copthorne Hotel, Masterton, Friday, 11 December, starting at 7.30 pm.

Auction items have been donated by a variety of Wairarapa organisations.

Proceeds are going towards extensions to the SPCA centre in Ngamutawa Road.

Goodbye public service television

TVNZ's charter is to be repealed in a move commentators say will end its public broadcaster role and turn it into a "cash cow" for the Government.

Broadcasting School head Paul Norris said

the change effectively gave TVNZ the go-ahead to act as a fully commercial broadcaster, screening the most commercial programmes it could find.

There was no longer any requirement for

programmes that educated, local drama, documentaries or minority interest programmes in the schedule. Programmes such as Tagata Pasifika and other special interest shows that were screened under the charter provisions were at particular risk.

As the minimum amount of local programming required has been removed they also would be in jeopardy.

Crafar farms had long history of animal welfare problems

Stuff reports that Crafar farms had been visited 35 times in the last six years for animal neglect issues.

Documents obtained under the Official Information Act showed concerns about illegal euthanasia methods, inadequate food, and failure to provide vets for injured stock.

See earlier posts about Crafar farms:

MAF finds significant animal welfare issues on Crafar farms

Have cows become factory farming components?

Starving calves dairy farming disgrace

Proposed dairy factory farming raises alarm

Proposed "cubicle farming" of dairy cows in the Mackenzie Basin is causing alarm to animal welfare and environmental groups and threatens the country's credibility as a producer of pasture-grown dairy products.

Proposals by the three companies for resource consents for 16 new dairy farm developments managing nearly 18,000 cows housed in cubicle stables are before Environment Canterbury (ECan).

Under the plan

cows will be confined in cubicle stables 24 hours a day for eight months of the year, from March to October, and allowed outside for 12 hours a day from November to February.

Cubicle farming involves each cow having its own cubicle, where it can return to lie down or sleep, and a "stable" area where it can eat and socialise with other cows.

Herd sheds are not new to New Zealand and are common in Europe. Used appropriately they provide shelter for the cows from climatic extremes and cows are able to come and go at will.

Cows to be kept inside for eight months

The proposed development in the Mackenzie Basin is in a different league. This proposes keeping cows inside for eight months of the year and then allowing them access to grass for 12 hours a day for the remaining four months.

Minister of Agriculture David Carter comments on intensive farming in the Mackenzie Basin

"I am concerned about the proliferation of dairying in fragile environments. They shouldn't be allowed to proceed unless we can be sure they can mitigate any adverse environment effects.

He then goes on to say

"Providing it adheres to acceptable animal welfare standards, I don't think there are issues there." 

National Animal Welfare Advisory Council (NAWAC) chairman, Dr John Hellstrom, speaking on Radio New Zealand's Nine to Noon programme, noted that herd sheds were not necessarily a bad thing but that current welfare guidelines did not cater for the Mackenzie Basin proposal.  He further noted that animal welfare considerations were paramount in setting guidelines.

Keeping all the eggs in one basket

Farming's love affair with dairying has seen huge areas of rural New Zealand sold off at outrageous prices and turned into dairy farms.  Dairy farming on the Canterbury Plains - land ideally suitable for arable farming - has seen huge amounts of water sucked out of rivers and aquifers for irrigation.  Effluent pollution is seeping into those aquifers and ruining important water sources.

And what if the bottom falls out of dairying?  With all the eggs in the dairying basket there is now insufficient diversification to protect rural New Zealand - and the economy - should the rest of the world decide some other protein source is the Next Best Thing.

Others writing on this issue:

Farmgeek - Factory farming in New Zealand

TV3 - Factory farming would harm NZ's clean green image 

Homepaddock - We can't have it both ways

Thinking Relating Celebrating - Intensive Dairy Farming 

Voxy (Chris Ford) - We will all be losers from factory dairy farming

Alpacas highlight of Mauriceville Country Fair

Alpacas stole the show at the Mauriceville Country Fair, held on Sunday, 6 December 2009 in the Mauriceville Domain, 10 kilometres north of Masterton.

With a wide variety of stalls, there was plenty of choice.

Music was provided by the Fern and Thistle Pipe Band, the Masterton Municipal Band, the Trad Seven jazz ensemble, and others.

Mauriceville School produced delicious scones with jam and cream, and an opportunity for a sit-down. A variety of other food stalls ensured all tastes were catered for.

A vintage car display provided trips down memory lane for many people. Here's a lovely old 1947 Hillman Minx

An extremely well-behaved dog waited patiently for its owner to complete her purchases.

Another pen of alpacas, taking the weight off their feet.

Some slightly less politically correct rag dolls.

The price retail staff pay so we can shop all weekend

C E Daniell's store, Queen Street, Masterton, circa 1920

New Zealand used to be a labour law trail-blazer. The forty-hour week and three weeks' annual leave ensured workers didn't work unreasonable hours and had time to spend with their families.

Until the 1980s shops - including supermarkets - had a late night on Friday and anyone working fulltime did their supermarket shopping on a Friday evening.

Only greengrocers opened on a Saturday.

The weekend was spent on domestic and sporting activities, visiting friends, possibly going to church, and having the family round for a Sunday roast. Or a picnic if the weather was warm.

Today supermarkets, big-box retailers and shopping malls are open seven days a week. Shopping has become the predominant leisure activity, with people buying more and more stuff they don't actually need.

Instead of saving up to buy one quality item which might last 30 years or more, goods are made down to a price, quality is sacrificed and items which might once have been repaired are tossed aside, replaced by yet more consumer baubles.

Disadvantaged retail staff

The seven-day-a-week shopping bonanza has created an underclass of low-skilled employees, many of whom are forced to work for all or part of the weekend, or at hours during the week that are not conducive to family wellbeing.

Big-box retail employees have limited career options. They do not have a lot of bargaining clout.

For those with families, weekend and evening time that should be spent with the family is often spent working, with both partners juggling low-paying jobs so someone is home to look after the children.

The Wairarapa Times-Age reported staff at The Warehouse Masterton store walked off the job in protest at changes to the way their working hours were structured. (Story not available on-line).  Staff are reported to be feeling stressed and under extreme pressure. While the changes are probably a management reaction to a reduced retail spend, the timing is most unfortunately, coming in the middle of the hectic pre-Christmas period.

And for those of you looking forward to Christmas as a time of relaxation and renewal, spare a thought for big-box retail staff. After a frantic lead-up to Christmas, they finish at 5 pm (if they're lucky) on Christmas Eve, and are then back at work on Boxing Day.

Annual leave between Christmas and New Year is not an option for big-box and supermarket staff. Boxing Day picnic with the family? Forget it.

Photo from the Wairarapa Archive