Fencepost.com celebrates first year on line

August 9, 2001

Fencepost.com celebrates first year on line

Leading agricultural website Fencepost.com is celebrating its first birthday.

The Kiwi Dairies-owned site went live on line on August 9, 2000 with the bold aim of creating an on-line community for New Zealand farmers and providing a range of internet-based tools and services which would help farmers increase productivity.

"We've achieved an enormous amount in our first year," says Fencepost.com chief operating officer Alison Andrew. "We provide unbeatable on-line services for New Zealand farmers and the fact that we now attract around 150,000 hits a month indicates farmers have rewarded us with their loyalty."

Alison Andrew travelled to South Taranaki earlier this week to present Kaponga dairy farmer Roger Landers with a $500 Town & Country voucher - a recognition of the fact he was the first registered user to log on to Fencepost.com on its first day on-line.

"Fencepost.com is delighted to be reaching this important milestone and to share our celebration with Roger," says Alison. Roger, who farms 255 dairy cows on 80 hectares, has been a regular user of Fencepost.com ever since registering a year ago. He particularly appreciates the information package for dairy suppliers which includes his on-line daily milk volume records, somatic cell counts and solids per hectare along
with historic figures which allow him to compare current and past productivity.

"It keeps me up to date," he says. "I don't have to worry about writing up dockets - the totals are there and I don't have to worry about somatics."

Roger also uses Fencepost.com to keep up to date with the weather, check out the classified advertising, keep an eye on what farmers are talking about through discussion groups and even trading livestock. Roger believes the Internet is an important tool for New Zealand farmers and will only become more so. "It's certainly got its place in terms of providing information. The supply information is the key for me and once I'm on there I usually look at the weather and a few other things. I can also go straight to my bank's website through Fencepost rather than having to go looking for the website address. All the information is there."

Since going live on line on August 9, 2000 Fencepost.com has been changing the way farmers do business through its ever-expanding range of innovative on-line tools and services.

"The fact that we attract around 150,000 hits per month indicates that thousands of New Zealand farmers are embracing these initiatives and incorporating them into their everyday business management," says Alison Andrew.

Highlights of Fencepost.com's initiatives include:

· Live.ex - the livestock exchange service which has ushered in a new era in on-line livestock trading with many farmers saving thousands of dollars by dealing direct with other farmers rather than going through a stock and station agent.

· Fencepost.com Classifieds - attracting almost 8000 visitors and 400 ads each month with farmers trading everything from farm dogs to utes, horse floats to farm feed

· A high-tech on-line calculator which allows dairy farmers to instantly estimate the value of their shares in GlobalCo by entering four basic statistics available from their milk production records.

· Rural Jobs, New Zealand's first credible national rural employment service, aimed at bringing rural employers and job seekers together no matter where they are in the country.

"Whether farmers want to trade, talk to other farmers or keep up with the latest farming news, the Internet is where more and more are turning," says Alison Andrew. "Fencepost is clearly their first choice, accounting for more than 40% of traffic to agricultural websites - which puts us a country mile ahead of our closest competitors who attract between five and 10 per cent.

"We're looking forward to the challenge of enhancing our services even further to ensure that New Zealand farmers stay at the forefront of international competitiveness."

Released for Fencepost.com by Pead PR

ENDS

© Scoop Media