Stuff Digital Edition

Winton Friesians set to be largest online herd sale

Laura Hooper

‘‘You just attract a wider audience . . . it’s breaking away from tradition.’’ Mark Cuttance PGG Wrightson southern south island dairy livestock manager

A Southland Friesian herd could become the largest single livestock offering sold online in New Zealand, as Covid-19 increases interest in online livestock sales.

PGG Wrightson southern south island dairy livestock manager Mark Cuttance, who is overseeing the Southland sale, said it would be the first time a dairy herd was sold online in its entirety in New Zealand.

The herd of 360 two-to-eight-yearold cows will be offered through bidr, an online livestock sales platform that is a subsidiary of PGG Wrightson but is open to any livestock agent to use, on December 9.

The platform has been live for about two-and-a-half years but has become ‘‘much more prevalent’’ during Covid-19 times, Cuttance said.

‘‘You just attract a wider audience . . . it’s breaking away from tradition,’’ he said.

He estimated the herd, owned by Winton farmers Simon and Liz Harnett, ranked in Southland’s top two per cent of dairy cows.

Bidr general manager Liam Beattie said there had been a steady increase in farmers using the platform following a ‘‘spike’’ in users during the first Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020.

Generally speaking, dairy farmers had been more forthcoming with the premise of online sales as it allowed them to explore genetic pedigrees, he said.

He was hopeful the Winton sale would push online trading as a preferred sales method in agriculture, given the national interest it could generate.

For example, the genetics of the Winton herd meant buyers in Waikato and Northland, who would otherwise find the distance to Southland a barrier to purchasing, would likely be interested, he said.

‘‘It’s innovation in quite a traditional industry . . . it’s a story of technology adaptation more than anything else.’’

News

en-nz

2021-12-04T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-04T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/281543704208779

Stuff Limited