Meat features at farmers’ conference

Press, 30 April 1982, Page 19

Meat features at farmers’ conference

The “tremendous impact” of the meat industry in New Zealand will be acknowledged when it is the key topic in this year’s Lincoln College Farmers’ Conference, to be held at Lincoln from May 17 to .19.

Visitors to the conference will be able to listen to two experts, brought to New Zealand by the Meat Producers' Board as part of its centennial celebrations, from countries crucial to New Zealand’s export meat industry. Dr A. J. Kempster of the British Meat and Livestock Commission will talk on manipulating carcase composition to meet changing market requirements, and Mr B. Anderson of the United States Department of Agriculture will discuss the requirements of United States manufacturing beef users.

At the same session, two South Island farmers, Mr K. J. Dunlop of Southland, and Mr C. J. McLeod of Waitaki Valley, will give farmers’ responses to current market

demands, and Mr L. Fortune, industrial conciliator with the Department of Labour, will talk on industrial relations.

Grades and grading will be the topic for a practical session. Mutton grading, a problem area for many farmers this season, will' be looked at, along with lamb grading. There will be discussions on the ratio of saleable meat to fat and bone in carcases, and on ways of manipulating it through breeding and feed. Electrical stimulation for tenderising meat is one of the Meat Industry Research Institute techniques that will be demonstrated. At the final meat industry session, technology and techniques will figure. Mr J. M. Ryan, of Waitaki N.Z. Refrigerating, Ltd, will discusscarcase processing, and Dr B. B. Chrystall of the Meat Industry Research ' Insitute will look at the vexed issue of the new technology. A Mid-Canterbury 'farmer, Mr L. Kingsbury, will ask the

question, “Is there a better deal for by-products?” But there is more than meat in the Farmers’ Conference sandwich. There will be a symposium on barley, a look at accounting, record keeping, and computers, a session on county planning, and a day for dairy farmers. The session on barley for farmers follows a technical day beforehand, and it will look at topics including growing, harvesting, disease control, use for malting or feed, and marketing. The Agronomy Society of New Zealand are joint organisers of the session, and speakers will include M.A.F.. Lincoln College, and D.S.I.R. researchers. Running at the same time is a series of talks on countyplanning. Speakers will include local authority councillors and planners, and they will aim to show good and bad district planning — from the points of view of administrators and public. According to the organ-

isers, the accounting session aims to help women who are involved in farm accounting and record keeping. Staff from Lincoln College’s Farm Management Department will talk on office management and record keeping, and two members of Lincoln’s Kellogg Farm Management Unit will demon-

n strafe the use of computers e on the farm. g The final day is for dairy f farmers, and it will feature a walks on the farms of Mr R. t Spark and Mr E. A. Bennett, :- both top producers in the !, Rangiora district. Starting on - the same day is a two day - seminar for Merino and - Halfbred producers, ar-

ranged by the Tussock Grasslands and Mountain Lands Institute. Programmes for the Farmers’ Conference and the Merino and Halfbred Producers’ Seminar can be obtained from the Secretary, Rural Development and Extension Centre, Lincoln College, Canterbury.