Bright Wings

Dairying denting clean green image

The massive $90,000 fine handed out to the Crafer family for inadequate effluent management should send a clear message to the dairy industry that the practices of some of their more cavalier colleagues damage both the environment and the perception of potential overseas tourists.

The Crafers have been running 22 farms, with 20,000 cows. Is it time some limits were set by regional authorities? To quote independent consultant, Dr Clive Dalton

"megaherds" such as those farmed on Crafer properties are a risk to both animal and human health, and the environment.

Protection of the environment, he argues, is paramount and more important than profits or productivity. He notes that the average stocking rate on a farm is 2.7 cows per hectare, and the stocking rate at Collins Road - 3.82, based on a minimum 1400-cow herd - was "just too high."

"The individual cow welfare is lost, therefore the standards of the whole farm drop, because the staff are so tired and worn out ... they're not caring for the cows, and so not caring for the environment.

"The whole bloody show goes down the gurgler when herds get big, driven by people trying to be bigger than everyone else."

The term "cash cow" readily springs to mind here.

New Zealand declares war 70 years ago today

At 11.30 pm on 3 September 1939 acting Prime Minister Peter Fraser declared that New Zealand was at war with the following words:

This is not an occasion for many words; it is a dark day in the history of the world ... It is with deep regret and sadness that I make this announcement on behalf of the Government, and the people will receive it with similar feelings. That will not, however, affect the determination of both Government and people to play their part.

Read more on Today in history

Vera Lynn singing The White Cliffs of Dover is enjoying a great revivial in the UK. I seem to recall reading that it was currently top of the hit parade.

Christopher Herrick plays in Masterton this Sunday

Don't miss this Sunday's concert by one of the world's finest concert organists, Christopher Herrick.

St Matthew's, Church Street, Masterton
Sunday, 26 July 2009, at 2 pm

Admission Adults $15. Students $5. Door sales

Further programme details and information and see my earlier post

Swine Flu Update

MacDoctor provides an update on the impact of Swine Flu in New Zealand. With some concerning statistics.

June Weather Summary

NIWA have released their June Climate Summary.  You won't be surprised to learn that there were

• Below average temperatures across the country - 0.7 degrees colder than usual
• Average rainfall for the Wairarapa
• Below average sunshine hours for the Wairarapa

I can't recall such prolonged, gloomy weather. The firewood suppliers must be doing very well this year.

Bigger trucks not the answer

Transport Minister Steven Joyce appears to have picked up and run with an international campaign by the trucking industry to increase truck size from 44 to 50 tonnes.

The US Coalition for Transportation Productivity is currently lobbying Congress for a similar size increase.

Stuff reports that Steven Joyce as saying that

allowing truckies to carry heavier loads on some roads could boost GDP by up to $500 million a year.

He notes that trials were undertaken during 2008 and that carrying bigger loads

could boost productivity by 10 to 20 percent, reduce trip numbers by 16 percent and see fuel use drop by 20 percent.

Joyce's assertion of economic benefits fails to take account of a couple of key infrastructural issues - an expensive-to-maintain, winding, narrow roading system in New Zealand which is ill-suited to large trucks, together with an under-utilised rail network.

I'm the first to agree that rail isn't the answer to everything but - leaving aside urgent deliveries, livestock and some perishable items - a goods train, with one locomotive and one driver, can move an awful lot of stuff at once.

Wairarapa residents are only too aware of the problem of large trucks. The "inland port" at Waingawa is under-utilised, while logging trucks carry large and precarious loads over the Rimutaka Hill. They deposit logs right alongside the railway siding on the Wellington wharves.

If Waingawa was used as intended - as a transport hub - local truckies could pick up and deliver much currently wearing out the Rimutaka Hill.

I'd have liked to have seen results of the 2008 heavy truck trials - and comparison with the economics of using rail - but the NZ Transport Agency site only contained technical details of the proposed change.

Young choral talent to sing in Masterton

The Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) is holding its annual Winter Choir School in Masterton during the first week of the school holidays (6 - 11 July). Choristers aged between 9 and 19 will be coming from all over New Zealand for a week of intensive singing and other musical activities. The school is tutored by three very experienced choral directors - Roy Tankersley (Director), Michael Fulcher and Stephen Rowley.

Their final service and prizegiving is open to the public.  If you'd like to hear some of the best of New Zealand's young choral talent, don't miss the Choir School's Final Service and Prizegiving, 11 am, Saturday 11 July, in St Matthew's Church, Church Street, Masterton.  Retiring collection.

Christopher Herrick to play in Masterton

Internationally acclaimed organist Christopher Herrick returns to Masterton to give another dazzling recital on the Rodgers Trillium organ in St Matthew's, Masterton on 26 July.

Christopher Herrick is one of the finest organists in the world and his playing at St Matthew's is a great win for the Wairarapa.

"A superb English organist...Mr. Herrick was at the peak of his considerable form, combining precision with panache, interpretive freedom with sheer joy in virtuosity. The playing was, in a word, triumphal."   - New York Times

He will be playing Organ Fireworks, the name of his much-acclaimed series of recordings he has made over the last 25 years (including one recording on the Wellington Town Hall organ).

Christopher Herrick plays Organ Fireworks

St Matthew's, Church Street, Masterton

Sunday, 26 July 2009, at 2 pm

Programme details

Pig Welfare Contradiction

While roundly condemning cruel pig farming practices last night on TV One News and Close Up, TV One then ran How the other half lives at 9.30 on hunting, seemingly in contradiction of their earlier stand on animal welfare.

We saw pig hunters and their dogs chasing, bailing up and sticking a large Captain Cooker pig, although Marc Ellis delicately turned the other way to avoid the awkward bit when the pig was dispensed.

Pig dogs have strong jaws which allow them to hold onto a pig until the hunter can get close enough to put the knife in.  As anyone who has ever been bitten knows, dog bites are extremely painful. To die this way must be agonising and terrifying. 

We appear to have contradictory attitudes to pig welfare.  We hail pig hunters as heroes, while condemning local farmers for intensive farming practices, and continue to support imports of cheap, intensively farmed Canadian pork.

I don't agree with pigs being confined - either in crates or concrete pens - and I think the current media campaign has given the industry a big wake-up call.  And let the public know that if it wants piggies gambolling in the meadow - and, as Claire Browning notes, pork for the Sunday roast - they're going to have to pay a bit more. 

As a country that pushes the grass-fed angle when marketing lamb and beef, we have up till now ignored the plight of pigs.