Listen now. The Country’s Jamie Mackay is joined by PGG Wrightson’s National Dairy Sales Manager, Jamie Cunninghame, to talk about New Zealand’s livestock market.

Mackay jokes that Fielding-Manawatu is the farming capital of New Zealand. Cunninghame agrees as he is based there.

Spring is in full force in the greater Manawatu region. Cunninghame notes that feed is growing well but the wet weather continues to be of concern.

Mackay questions the nationwide demand around milking cows, and if there will be a ‘Dairy Boom’ coming.  Cunninghame answers that there are a lot of enquiries happening at the moment, and there have been a large number of clearing sales coming from Taranaki and the greater Waikato region.

These sales have been ranging from the early $2000 to the early $3000, and there have been issues with supply and demand, particularly through late autumn and winter.

The Dairy-Beef sales have started in Waikato despite being in Level 3 lockdown. Cunninghame adds that despite the levels, sales are going ahead on the auction platform Bidr.

Mackay asks what “Defer a Bull” is. Cunninghame explains that it is a service provided by PGG which assists farmers in their need for bull livestock.