Showing posts with label New Zealand. Show all posts
New Zealand Campaign to Make Sheep Shearing an Olympic Event
Posted by Unknown in New Zealand, News, Raw Milk, Sheep, Wool on Monday, 28 January 2013
It
probably had to come, from a country with almost ten times as many
sheep as people: New Zealand wants sheep shearing made into an Olympic
event.
The
New Zealand Farmers Federation, a rural lobby group, claims wool
shearers should be recognised alongside the world's finest athletes for
their "sport".
Jeanette Maxwell, a spokesman for the federation, describes top shearers as "athletes who take it to another level".
She said: "I can testify to the physical effort shearing takes.
"Surely, the time has come to elevate shearing's sporting status to the ultimate world stage.
"One way would be to make shearing a demonstration sport at the Commonwealth Games, if not the Olympics itself."
In March the small North Island town of Masterton will host the World Shearing Championships.
The
event, which attracts competitors from Britain, Ireland, Australia,
South Africa and a handful of other countries, sees large numbers of
fleeces shorn at frantic pace.
Many
of the world's best shearers also take part in New Zealand's own
national Golden Shears contest, which attracts wildly enthusiastic
crowds and extensive coverage in the country's media.
Shearing contests are divided into men's and women's categories.
Both offer considerable prize money and even greater prestige.
Ms
Maxwell pointed out that Irishman Ivan Scott, the current men's world
record holder, gained his world eight-hour solo title after shearing 749
sheep.
Kerri-Jo Te Huia, the women's champion, smashed the previous world record by 37, shearing 507 sheep in eight hours.
Shearing
is already recognised as a sport by SPARC, the government's Sport and
Recreation Council, which provides grants to help run competitions.
New
Zealand's human population of about 4.4 million is outnumbered by a
national sheep flock of almost 40 million, with most lamb meat being
exported to Britain, the Middle East and Asia.
By Paul Chapman in Wellington
Uncountable Benefits of Goat's Milk
Posted by Unknown in Dairy Products, Goat, New Zealand, Raw Milk on Friday, 25 January 2013
John Maslin
Phil and Bryanne Weber aren't given to blasphemy, but they swear by goat's milk.
They
have a lifestyle block on Mosston Rd and milk a herd of 50 goats twice
daily. While the family takes what it needs, the bulk of the raw milk is
fed to calves.
Now
they are watching with interest the next move from the Ministry of
Agriculture and Forestry (MAF), which is seeking the public's views on
whether to continue farm-gate sales of raw milk.
Current
regulations let farmers and people like the Webers sell a daily maximum
of 5 litres of raw milk per person from their farm gate.
"The
idea of being able to sell from our gate has real appeal as long as the
Ministry doesn't put to many regulations in our way," Mr Weber said.
But the Webers want to educate the public about raw goat's milk and its benefits.
"The
interest in getting the milk is there but a lot don't understand its
values," Mrs Weber said. "It's far superior to cows' milk and is great
for people who have all sorts of allergies."
With
that many goats, the family has never had to buy milk from the
supermarket and, having tasted store-bought milk, she said she could
never drink it.
The Weber farm is a hobby farm, so they were not reliant on the milk as their staple income.
Their
family of seven sons and a daughter have all been brought up drinking
the raw goat's milk and their parents say they are so healthy, the
doctors don't even know them.
"Their
teeth are perfect. While Phil and I have got a mouthful of fillings,
the children have hardly a filling among them," Mrs Weber said.
Mr
Weber can attest to the values of the milk, too, because as a child he
suffered from severe eczema: "I scratched myself constantly, and the
doctor told my mum to get me on to goat's milk. She bought a goat and
once I started drinking its milk everything came right. So when our
family came along, we decided to have a goat and the herd's just grown."
Goat's milk is known to have less fat, less lactose, fewer allergens, different proteins and more minerals than cow's milk.
"There
has been a recent study done by scientists at Massey University which
looked into the dangers of consuming raw cows' milk. That study showed
there was very little risk because of today's hygiene standards in
milking sheds and the general health status of farm animals," Mrs Weber
said.
GATE SALES
MAF
called for submissions on whether to continue farm-gate sales of raw
milk and these have now closed. Current regulations let farmers sell a
daily maximum of 5 litres of raw milk per person from their farm gate.
The three options proposed were:
to maintain the present legal position
to make some amendments to the conditions of sale and retain the requirement for a risk management programme (RMP)
to
make some amendments to conditions of sale, and exempt farmers from an
RMP for farm-gate sales but still require them to meet some animal
health and hygiene requirements and keep records of sales (this is MAF's
preferred option).
