My Top Posts Of 2012

I've only been blogging since mid 2012 and I seem to have a reasonable number of followers now. I didn't realise that matters relating to dairy farming are relatively popular!

I had a quick look to see what were my most popular blog posts so far.


1.  The Mobile Milking System

It's not surprising that this post is the most popular, it just so different. It's about how we can milk cows with a cowshed that is mobile. It's a different concept that offers a range of farming possibilities. 

There will be a lot more posts about this in 2013.

2.  Sheep & Beef Farmers Can Diversify Into Dairy

This post was about how sheep and beef farmers can increase their profitability by milking a small herd of cows. The option to cheaply diversify into dairy is made possible by the mobile cowshed.

3.  What New Zealand Agriculture Can Learn From The iPhone

Here I had a brief look at the Apple business model. We find that Apple control every aspect of the value chain which helps them to maximise their profitability. I ask why do New Zealand agribusinesses not try an capture more of the value of their products.

4.  Horizons One Plan, Farmers Opportunity To Innovate

The changes to environmental policy has many farmers worried about how they will stay profitable. In this post I argue that all businesses have to adapt to changes in business conditions. I use small retailers as an example of how the successful ones have adapted to  big box stores and internet shopping.

I think farmers can adapt to the new environmental conditions and still be profitable.

5.  How much money do dairy farmers make?
This post was one of my first and it consistently gets visited every week mainly from google searches for "how much money do dairy farmers make". I have found it difficult to get a simple answer to that question and it appears lots of people are after the same information. I will write a more comprehensive post on dairy farmers income shortly.