Have you ever been tempted to keep a pig or two or even some sows? Now is a good time to start planning your new shed or mobile hut and adapt fencing for these strong and intelligent animals. Pigs do not have a coat of fur or wool to keep warm, so must be provided […]

Keeping a flock of laying chickens is rapidly increasing in popularity, as it is a rewarding hobby. With this popularity comes more and more questions from beginners, so below are some frequently asked questions from people who are new to keeping chickens. Why have my chickens gone off the lay? It can be quite a […]

Health and Safety on farms can extend to what is fed to animals to keep them as healthy and safe as possible. Some animal feeds are surprisingly dangerous to some classes of stock, so it pays to read and understand the label when feed arrives. There are a few things to be aware of when […]

Someone told me rabbits eat their own poo! Surely this can’t be true. Yes, this is true! Although they don’t eat all their poo… just some of it. The unique muscles of a rabbit’s caecum allow the intestinal tract to separate out fibrous material from more digestible material; the fibrous material is then passed, while […]

With spring just around the corner, there is naturally a proliferation of young animals on properties across the country. On dairy farms, the focus will be on early lactation and feeding calves to ensure early rumen development and good growth rates. In the same way, anyone wanting to grow young chicks for either egg production […]

Rabbits are very interesting animals when it comes to nutrition and it is worth getting to know a bit more about your furry friends so you can make sure they are receiving the best care possible. With the recent release of the RHDV1 K5 virus throughout New Zealand to control pest rabbit populations, it is […]

Storage of animal feed in vertical silos or bins is the most common form of dry feed storage on New Zealand farms. Silos can be a great way to store feed, as they reduce wastage and protect feed from climatic events and from pests such as birds and vermin. Silos also allow farmers to reap […]

Alpaca are interesting animals that are popular on small blocks in New Zealand. Alpaca are domesticated animals from South America and belong to the group ‘camelids’ along with camels and llamas. Their high quality fibre is renowned for its softness and lustre, which is used to make luxury clothing items. They also make great pets […]

Keeping backyard pigs has been a common practice for centuries, as pigs will eat a wide range of different feedstuffs and can be efficient converters of waste foods or feed into high quality protein for human consumption. Supplementing your pigs’ diet with reject vegetables or waste milk on a dairy farm can be a good […]

Eggs are the perfect food. They are naturally nutritious and have even been called nature’s multivitamin, as they provide a range of essential vitamins and trace minerals. In their book, Commercial Poultry Nutrition, Professors Leeson and Summers from the University of Guelph estimated that two eggs provide as much as 25 percent of the daily […]