The case, which was heard before Dunedin High Court involved brothers Tony and Wayne Hughes and the defendant, contractor Allan Lyall.

The Hughes brothers, who run a 247 hectare dairy block Otanamomo carrying about 800 cattle, contracted Lyall to harvest a 31.5 ha pea and barley crop for silage in February 2014.

According to the New Zealand Farmer, the brothers sought $300,000 which included the cost of finding alternative feed and the loss of the opportunity to winter milk a proportion of the cows, which would have provided a premium price.

Dunedin High Court however, found that the crop was over mature at the time of harvest, which was the greatest factor for the poor quality silage. The over maturity of the crop meant that Lyall could not operate his front cutting unit, which was designed to harvest the crop and process it for silage in one pass. Instead he used a “work around” method of mowing, raking and chopping the peas and barley.

The Judge concluded by remarking Lyall had not breached his contractual duties and that he was entitled to costs after being successful in the case.

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