SMASH has been set up to help dairy farmers, particularly those with smaller operations, to run successful businesses. We mainly achieve this by running events throughout New Zealand. These give farmers the opportunity to gain knowledge and skills which will stand them in good stead back on their own farms.
We also want to foster a supportive farming community – we are all in it together! SMASH is run by a group of New Zealand dairy farmers with a passion for the industry and for helping to build a strong and sustainable future for dairy farming. Read more
Our latest newsletter is hot off the press! Have a read to catch up on all our latest gossip, events, and meet our new national coordinator.
Great to see how SMASH Northland stalwarts Gav and Jody are adding value to their enterprise.
Northland sharemilkers lead the way back to the future in glass bottles
Each glass bottle can be re-used 50 times, saving 250,000 plastic bottles a year.When you read Brian Frost's latest blog post you will see his spring is going well! There are lots of numbers in there: production, feed, pasture cover, fertiliser... it is all there, as well as his cropping regime. It makes for an interesting snapshot of how the season is progressing. www.smallerherds.co.nz/our-season-so-far-brian-frost/
Some quick, practical tips you can use so you can handle the tough times.Whether its having a yarn with a mate, grabbing a coffee in town, or getting along to the kids' sport, it all helps!
Getting through tough times - Farmstrong - Live Well Farm Well
All industries have challenges and farming is no different. Weather patterns, fluctuating prices, changing legislative requirements and media stories are all part of the pressures …
It’s been a long time between blogs for the Frosties – one daughter has been to the US to be a camp counselor with camp America and is now back, working hard to save for uni next year. One son has finished his degree this week! The other son has been studying with YWAM in […]
Every season there seems to be variations in growth and cow performance that make spring so interesting. I thought that the amount of feed I had going into winter and up to calving would stand me in good stead through spring. Not so! Calving was the fastest it has ever been, and feed demand ramped […]
The month of September rolling around always gives me such a feeling of relief. I guess it’s owing to the fact that this is it, spring is here, the rush is over, and with daylight saving looming it will mean that those long evenings will once again reappear enabling all sorts of outdoor activity. Oh, […]
As I write this on the 30/7/19 I have just over half the herd in. The girls certainly have been keen to go as I had 25% of the herd in by due start date! This has convinced me to push back my start date to the 25th July. This is particularly relevant when it […]
I was aiming to write this blog on the shortest day, but that was on the 22nd of June, and it came and went before I knew it. We are now two weeks past that already! Wow, two weeks past the shortest day, which means only 84 days to go until daylight saving kicks in. […]
The season ended early for me with drying off on the 26th April. The dry summer/autumn encouraged this decision, and I feel it was the right one, with covers now over 2500 two thirds of the way through May. For the record, final figures were 28,759 kg solids, 368 kg per cow, and 1027 kg […]
It’s been a long time coming but finally the rain has arrived, hopefully not too late as we are very short of grass. With a bit of luck we can still see a pretty good finish to this season – we do need some good growing conditions over the next two months to set up […]
My calendar seems in a bit of disarray at the moment as we work ourselves through 2 weeks of days on, days off, days on, days off, causing me to struggle a bit trying to remember what day it is. I do know that it’s ANZAC day today as this is such a well-advertised and […]
I feel in rather a buoyant mood today for several reasons including, but not limited to: autumn rain, maize, bacon, craft beer and boys…..Often we put ourselves under pressure by having a list of things we need to do, but can’t find time to do, or maybe don’t want to do; or things we want […]
Thank you and your committee for your great work re SMASH events. We have gained several life changing ideas from these events.
At SMASH events we met like-minded people doing similar things.
It gave us confidence to know that there are people out there doing the same thing we are doing.
The positive vibe and the feeling of community amongst the farmers here was a highlight.
Can't sleep as am too excited after events!
This was a brilliant day. Refreshing, informative, varied and motivating.
“We have kind of gone off discussion groups because they tend to just look after our little district. Discussion groups are mainly people checking up on what the neighbours are doing whereas SMASH events are different, we get a lot more from them. I wholeheartedly loved it. It is good getting out of the area too.”
The strong working partnership of smaller herd farmers Matt and Sarah-Jane Yates has been a cornerstone to the success of their farming business. Matt started his career drystock farming on the family block, but its sale enabled him to buy his own property.
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