Posts by Alfie

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  • Hard News: Five further thoughts, in reply to Sacha,

    China has also been importing NZ dairy cows specifically to build up its own herds.

    Shitting me. How stupid are we.

    The same Fonterra article verifies that.

    Most of Fonterra's Chinese herds originated from imported New Zealand fresians, with some sourced from Australia.

    Dunedin • Since May 2014 • 1440 posts Report

  • Hard News: Five further thoughts, in reply to Farmer Green,

    We only have 4 million cows.

    And apparently growing by the day. The latest info I can find from Statistics NZ puts the total at 6.4 million dairy cattle in New Zealand at 30 June 2012.

    Dunedin • Since May 2014 • 1440 posts Report

  • Hard News: Five further thoughts,

    Here's one for Farmer Green...

    While I'm not a farmer I live in a rural area and get a few farming tabloids delivered weekly. The latest issue of Southern Rural Life has a two page spread on Fonterra's Chinese farming operations. The photos show a massive hi-tech stall operation. But this quote got me wondering.

    Our Yutian hub operates 24 hours a day, with cows milked three to four times a day to keep pace with high production from the well-fed and rested cows.

    Can you really milk a cow four times a day? How sustainable is that in the long term?

    Here's another quote from Fonterra's head of international farming ventures, Henk Bles.

    ...Fonterra's goal was to produce one billion litres of milk (in total) in China by 2020.

    I'm not surer how much milk NZ produces at the moment, but wouldn't those sorts of quantities pretty much kill the international demand for NZ-produced milk? Just wondering.

    Dunedin • Since May 2014 • 1440 posts Report

  • Hard News: Dirty Politics,

    Attachment

    The Herald's "Who do you believe - John Key or Kim Dotcom? poll has been closed after ten days. Maybe because one of the subjects was leaping way too far into the lead?

    Dunedin • Since May 2014 • 1440 posts Report

  • OnPoint: Sunlight Resistance, in reply to Rob S,

    The emails weren't just Slater they also pointed to other players and aren't in my opinion just Cameron Slater being a fantasist but also Jason Ede [remember him] going on about accessing the website. This guy described as Nationals black ops person was being paid by the taxpayer to engage in political attacks on the opposition.

    I've yet to hear any journalist ask about the exact date Ede stopped being paid by the taxpayer, and started being paid by the National Party. Was it before or after Dirty Politics was launched? Or perhaps the more relevant question would be, on which date were Parliamentary Services notified that Ede was no longer in their employ?

    Dunedin • Since May 2014 • 1440 posts Report

  • Hard News: The sole party of government, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,

    We watched the Election at a friends who works in TV News. We had both channels on with vox turned down on one of them.

    We did the same thing in London with some BBC folk back in '87. Our little group of like-minded folk was expecting a change, but Thatcher's lot won again. It was depressing at the time. A little like our recent election.

    I can't stand Hosking and for a while it seemed like TV3 were geared up to take over the serious current affairs mantle. While The Campbell Show is without doubt the best we have at the moment, TV3 went and spoiled it by giving that little creep Henry his own show.

    Dunedin • Since May 2014 • 1440 posts Report

  • Hard News: The humanity, in reply to Joe Wylie,

    I find Patrick Gower quite endearing, sometimes (not so much recently), but he always looks to me like his face belongs in the pages of Viz magazine.

    I think I know what you mean. More Finbarr Saunders and his Double Entendres (fnar fnar!) than Buster Gonad and his Unfeasibly Large Tersticles.

    Or Roger Melly - the man on the tele.

    "Ohhh... look at these cute little puppies, children. Oh wait... this one over here has an enormous hard-on!"

    I used to love Viz.

    Dunedin • Since May 2014 • 1440 posts Report

  • Hard News: Five further thoughts, in reply to Farmer Green,

    Note that a $5.30 payout requires a 30% lift in prices.

    Which isn't going to happen. The Chinese are rather good at playing the long game. Is it possible that our 'rock star' economy has ODed (on milk)?

    Dunedin • Since May 2014 • 1440 posts Report

  • Hard News: The sole party of government, in reply to Katharine Moody,

    Thanks Alfie - all good reasons to flick over to TV3 for news too. We suspected it was likely to be more professional. Really stayed with TVOne at 6'oclock because we liked the weather graphics :-)

    Snap! We continued to record One News for a while for that very reason. However we adapted to the TV3 weather style after a while - backed up by MetService and MetVUW, of course. ;-)

    Dunedin • Since May 2014 • 1440 posts Report

  • Hard News: Five further thoughts, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    Might have to change the name
    to summat catchy like 'Wai IT'
    or 'IT Wai' (IT by the water?)

    Server farms would provide an ideal replacement for the smelter when it closes. Mind you, if this government stays true to form they might be inclined to offer all that cheap, subsidised power to a shadowy US operation who already build the world's largest data storage facilities and require loads of cheap power.

    Just imagine the big fences which would go up, isolating Bluff from the rest of the country.

    Dunedin • Since May 2014 • 1440 posts Report

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