Dairy News Australia - April 2020 - With Gippsland Region

APRIL, 2020 ISSUE 114

GIPPSLAND REGION

Generations

A commercially driven family stud in Gippsland, see page 8.

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA APRIL 2020

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Chair’s message

Working together to combat COVID-19 THE SITUATION with coronavirus is changing

so fast, it’s difficult to know what information will be out-of-date by the time this publication goes to print.

One aspect of COVID-19 that won’t change is the need for people — including dairy farmers — to treat it seriously.

Follow the guidelines set out by the Victorian Government. You can see the latest information at dhhs.vic.gov.au/coronavirus or, visit dairyaustralia.com.au/c19 for updates on the dairy industry.

If we all follow the rules — social distancing, regular handwashing, wiping down surfaces, restricting travel — then we can help prevent

the spread of coronavirus and, hopefully, contain and control it.

As a producer of high-protein food for Australia and the world, the dairy industry is truly an essential service.

If we can continue milking, keep the factories open and still export to Asia, we can help millions of people stay healthy during a terrible period and keep export dollars rolling into an Australian economy crippled by COVID-19.

But that will all depend on our ability to stay healthy so we can keep on with the relentless work involved in dairy farming.

Due to the pandemic, GippsDairy will be suspending all group-based extension activities

until further notice.

The decision to postpone all scheduled events has been made to protect the health of participants, guest speakers, our staff and the wider community.

GippsDairy is already developing ways to continue farm extension through remote methods.

It will be coming to you through your phone or computer, so keep an eye out.

If you have any questions about postponed events please don’t hesitate to call the office on 5624 3900 or email info@gippsdairy.com.au · Grant Williams GippsDairy chair

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GIPPSLAND REGION // 3 Irrigation expo Hundreds of farmers and other business people attended the Gippsland Irrigation Expo at the Sale Showgrounds in March.

The event hosted a large number of exhibitors showcasing the very latest techniques and technologies for all aspects of irrigated farming.

Murray Gibbs, Crooked River, follows up with Brad Missen, West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority, about his plans for on-farm irrigation.

Sam Jones of Cummins South Pacific, with Mossiface dairy farmers, Patch and Noot Calvert, who are investing in irrigation and considered this diesel engine manufactured

by Cummins, the newest and smallest model in the range, at 42HP, and comes with a Macquarie tech10 controller, which automates the irrigation system.

John Ryan, of Dennison, talked about using drones on the farm, with Southern Rural Water employee, Matt Stagg.

Darren Clutterbuck, Total Eden, and Matt Coleman, Riversleigh, discuss linear and fixed spray irrigation.

Stephen Jennings, of Franklin Electric, and Bill Reid, Broadlands, with a submersible bore pump.

Upper Maffra dairy farmer, Raelene Hanratty, also the chair of Southern Rural Water's Macalister Irrigation District customer consultative committee, with Kevin Saillard, Farm Connect, and Southern Rural Water irrigation deliver supervisor, Matt Cook, discussed agriculture technology and online water efficiency products.

Peter Mahoney, Padman Stops, with Norm Drew, of Heyfield, inspecting a Pexl drop box for through-the-bank irrigation, with an automated gate through solar power. Norm Drew has a high delver and said installing these boxes could cut erosion in his system.

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Farming passion in Johnstons’ DNA JEANETTE SEVERS

JACE JOHNSTON is 14-months-old and

already his favourite activities are farm-related.

He is eager to interact with cows and calves and his favourite toy is a tractor, a bit like his dad.

Jace is the sixth generation of Bundalaguah’s Johnston family to be involved in dairy farming.

He is the fourth generation in Australia.

His parents, Justin Johnston and Shorna Ross, are as committed as previous generations to the future of the dairy industry.

Apart from continuing to operate the Glomar Holstein Stud set up by Robert Johnston, Justin has purchased nearby farmland to grow out heifers. It is part of the stud and milking herd’s ongoing future, and enables them to diversify for the export and domestic markets.

Justin involves himself with mentoring and developing young people in dairy, paying back the interest he received.

In 2016, Justin represented Australia’s Holstein youth at the World Holstein Friesian Federation Conference.

Justin teaches at youth camps and supports youth development, including helping to select other young people to represent Australia at international events.

He has been in charge of the youth competition at local shows across Gippsland, at the International Dairy Show and, last year, he provided the cattle at a Holstein Australia youth camp.

“It’s important to develop an ongoing interest among young people to breed good lines of cattle,” Justin said.

“They learn more than setting up cattle to show — leading and clipping — they learn about veterinary care, breeding and feeding cattle.

Supporting youth development in our industry is encouraging the next generation of dairy farmers.”

The Johnston family milks a 780-head purebred self-replacing Holstein herd off an effective 397 ha milking area, on an irrigated farm of 486 ha.

Justin Johnston and Shorna Ross are committed to dairy farming and raising their son, Jace, for a future in the industry.

Irrigation licences enable them to access 450 Ml from the Lake Glenmaggie system and 1600 Ml from a bore. A centre pivot irrigates 28 ha of pasture, with another 28 ha irrigated by fixed sprinklers.

The wash down water used in the 20 double-up dairy is captured in a holding pond and used to irrigate 15 ha of grazing paddocks around the dairy.

A further 49 ha farm is used to grow out heifers. Initially a lease, this land was purchased

recently by Justin and is flood irrigated. He is transitioning the traditional short-term rye-grass pasture to a long-term variety and adding to the clover mix. Justin keeps it stocked for effective year-round rotational grazing.

“We keep about 100 to 120 heifers each year, picked on genomics and cow family,” Justin said.

“The rest (usually about 150) are prepared for the export heifer market, unless the domestic market matches those rates.”

The split-calving herd is all joined with

artificial insemination, including sexed semen, and embryo transfer.

Agribusiness a family focus The agribusiness involves Lynette and Robert Johnston, his brother, John, and Justin and Shorna. An additional full-time employee helps with milking and tractor work.

Glomar Holstein Stud was set up 45 years ago, when Robert took on ownership of his father’s commercial Holstein milking herd.

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GIPPSLAND REGION // 5

Jace Johnston, 14-months-old, is the sixth generation of his family to be interested in dairy farming.

“That seedstock still exists within the herd,” Robert said.

The milking herd is all registered stud cows, genomically tested as calves for bull markers. Fifty bull calves are reared every year, with about 10 per cent used in semen centres.

“It’s very enjoyable to see their daughters doing well in other people’s herds,” Robert said.

“Our focus is on producing cows of good sound type and producing a lot of milk. Some of our cows go back to one cow in the herd 30-plus years ago. We breed for production.

“What we’re breeding, we’re consistently seeing results in the dairy and in the show ribbons.”

Traditionally a split-calving herd, 25 per cent autumn and 75 per cent spring, Justin and Robert are gradually increasing to an 85 per cent spring

calving herd. To support this, they are changing their pasture management to reduce their reliance on bought-in fodder.

“Feed was tight in 2018–19 and we didn’t know what last year’s autumn would be like, so it was an easy decision to make,” Justin said.

“We’ve still got feed in front of us this year in autumn and it’s a decision that’s taken pressure off the paddocks at this time of year.”

The farm produces grass silage and the business buys in hay, grain and calf meal. Immediate plans are to develop some of the grazing paddocks to sow lucerne, for grazing and to harvest silage. Justin is making the investment to reduce the cost of bought-in fodder.

“We can produce pasture hay and silage in a good year, but we rely a lot on buying fodder. Our ultimate goal is to be self-sufficient,” Justin said.

Lynne and Robert Johnston in the dairy.

“There’s too much variance in quality and price of fodder that comes in the farm gate. In the last two to three years, 500 to 600 tonnes of silage has been bought in.

“I’m using the irrigation to invest in producing more of our own silage. I’m sowing lucerne this year in some undeveloped paddocks, where we have a travelling irrigator, and we should start to see the benefits of that crop in 2021.

“Then we’ll only need to buy in a bit of cereal hay for the spring herd.

“Or if I buy another piece of land and grow maize, fed as chopped silage, that will fit the bill.”

He geared up the machinery in the past couple of years, upgrading tractors and investing in power harrows.

“You can afford to do it when you’ve got the work for them on farm,” Justin said.

This autumn he is sowing annual rye-grass across the 57 ha of irrigated paddocks; then he’ll power harrow and sow the lucerne in spring for grazing — Sardi 7 series 2, as recommended by his agronomist from Graham Seeds. In its second year, he will graze the lucerne paddocks and harvest as pit silage and wrapped bales.

“We can utilise water better growing lucerne, with its long tap root. That country is loamy soil and white sand; you can put water on it today and it’ll by dry tomorrow,” Justin said.

“It’s a seven-year project. Once the lucerne is sown, there’ll be ongoing fertiliser and harvesting costs, but no re-seeding costs.

“And it grows a high protein feed source for the cows.”

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA APRIL 2020

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Managing drought while preparing for rain JEANETTE SEVERS

THE JENNINGS dairy farm at Bruthen is more

Peter Jennings checks the growth of kikuyu, a grass he relies on for pasture on his hill country.

likely to experience a flood than a drought.

Minor flooding of the Tambo River and its backwater after heavy rainfall is interspersed with semi-regular widespread flooding in the region. But the East Gippsland family is into its fourth year of drought.

Peter Jennings said he spends half his time managing for current conditions and half his time preparing for after they receive droughtbreaking rain. Or, as happened in January, a heavy rainfall of 100 mm in one cast.

Peter and Sue, their son Andrew, son-in-law Adam Hasler, daughter Ingrid, full-time worker Brian, and several full-time casual milkers, make up the workforce.

The herd of 400 self-replacing split-calving mostly Friesian cows produces an average 7000 litres daily, in a 14-a-side double-up herringbone dairy.

Mr Jennings runs bulls in the herd and favours British and Canadian Friesian sires.

“The British Friesian and Canadian Friesian bulls throw good solid cow genetics,” Mr Jennings said.

“I run my milking herd as a meat herd. If she’s not producing, she’s off. I see the results of using those bulls in my steers; they do well in the store cattle market. And there are always a few heifers that make the grade for the export market.”

He currently has 42 heifers of last year’s drop of 120 classed and tagged for export.

“That buys a few bales of hay,” Mr Jennings said.

Calving begins on March 1 for three months and August 1 for four months. Heifers calve at 2.5-years-old.

The dairy farm is 53 ha of irrigation country, under lateral sprays with a 200 Ml water right, and 150 ha of dryland country. About 11 ha is irrigated a couple of times a week out of the effluent pond.

There are also 109 ha of dryland outblocks, where steer and heifer calves are raised and dry cows graze.

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GIPPSLAND REGION // 7 Split calving takes advantage of balancing a traditional spring peak and winter deficit cycle, although Mr Jennings said that was a questionable strategy in the ongoing drought circumstances.

“I’d have to say half my focus is on getting through daily, half my focus is on capitalising on when it rains,” he said.

That means fertilising regularly, growing maize crops, keeping young cattle, trading heifers and steers and keeping the milking herd in good condition.

“It’s making sure you have the livestock, the pastures and the infrastructure ready for when it rains,” Mr Jennings said. ‘”I’ve ensured we’re ready for the rain.”

He regularly sells old cows and “odds and bods”, buys heifers and keeps young cattle.

“When it rains, we’ll keep feeding everything,” he said.

“We need a big flood-type rain to turn things around. In the meantime, we’re just continuing on with the normal drought we’ve had for the past three years.”

The milkers get four square bales of homegrown silage, three big bales of cereal hay and 5 kg of pellets daily. They also get the opportunity for green pick whenever it’s available. Dry cows get one bale of hay daily and heifers receive two bales of hay every second day.

“The cereal hay is $340/tonne delivered,” Mr Jennings said.

“In 2018, hay was $220/tonne. Last year we ended spending some of our reserve to buy hay, but we were probably a bit smarter in what we were doing and the milk price has doubled this last year.

“But we’re in record milk price. We’ll keep buying hay.”

A Saputo supplier, he receives more than $7/ litre, from a herd producing 7000 litres per day, or 120 000 litres per month. Then there is the labour cost.

“For me it’s important to keep condition on the cows,” Mr Jennings said.

“You can’t half-do this job. You’ve got to get your production out of your cows.”

Sowing a bit of everything In September last year, Mr Jennings sowed Sardi 7 lucerne into 2.5 ha on dry flat country.

In early November, he harvested six bales of wrapped silage and sprayed for hog weed.

He oversowed an existing two-year-old stand of Sardi 7 lucerne with Shogun rye-grass, to bulk it out if rain came. That cut 16 silage bales on January 8 and would be cut again on February 10.

The lateral shift sprayers irrigate a clover and pasture mix, which was showing signs of stress in January. Irrigation was closed on Boxing Day and had been restricted by flow during December, although he irrigated every day in September to November.

“The paddocks have a good super history.

They get two rounds of pasture booster, one each in autumn and spring, single super is broadcast once a year and 0.5 tonnes urea follows the cows,” Mr Jennings said.

There are eight plantings of maize, sown a week apart from November 1 to the middle of January. Germination has been variable across all the crops, with variations in height because of the lack of rain.

“We feed the maize as a green chop. Maize is a satisfying crop to grow because it grows so fast,” Mr Jennings said.

“You’ve got to get some pleasures in life.

Growing maize is mine.

“We’re good at chopping maize. We harvest it daily and feed that day. The cows eat a crop a week, which is why we sow each crop a week apart.

“The secret to maize, is you’re growing grain in a cool, green crop.

“Growing maize is also about spreading your risk across the farm. It’s as good as anything to have something growing.”

Kikuyu is oversown with rye-grass and paspalum. Mr Jennings keeps a kikuyu paddock going on the flat country and his hills are kikuyu grass oversown with rye-grass.

“I keep a kikuyu paddock on the flat because you’ve got to have a bit of everything in your mix,” he said.

“And I keep kikuyu in my hill paddocks. This part of the farm is sandy country and kikuyu is a good grass to have here. But, like the paspalum, you’ve got to keep it short.”

On January 20 this year, 100 mm of rain fell.

Pasture bounced and maize growth took off, helped along by unseasonal humidity.

“We started drying off cows early, on January 1 for March 1 calving, to take pressure off the silage and fodder,” Mr Jennings said.

“We had 1000 rolls of wrapped silage and (end of January) we have 13 bales left. We were feeding for maintenance and production.

“We’re now back to milking 260 cows and they’re still producing 6400 to 6500 litres.

“Rain makes so much difference. Two weeks later, the cows are grazing green grass during the daytime and they only get one big bale of cereal hay in the morning.

“They were totally reliant on silage and we’re not feeding any silage now.

“The in-calf heifers and dry cows are getting one bale of cereal hay a day with green pick and access to the laneway for grazing.

“The last crop of maize was sown just before 100 mm of rain fell, so this crop will race out of the ground — it had enough water laying to help it germinate.”

With the ground still dry, Mr Jennings is hoping for rain and his plans include sowing oats in mid-February and rye-grass in March.

The herd of 400 self-replacing split-calving mostly Friesian cows produces an average 7000 litres daily.

Rainfall of 100mm in January meant the plans to take advantage of rain paid off for the Jennings dairy farm, providing pasture to graze and reducing the amount of fodder fed out.

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA APRIL 2020

8 // GIPPSLAND REGION

Moo Moo’s lesson an udder success JEANETTE SEVERS

COWS WEAR number plates. That was the

message taken home by one Paynesville primary school student after his group participated in Dairy Australia’s Picasso cows program.

His knowledge is the fault of the dairy farmer involved, who gave this response when the child asked about the numbered eartags worn by each cow.

The Prep students were left with strong memories after touring the dairy farm as part of learning about where milk comes from and what it can be made into.

The tour was organised by Bruthen dairy farmer Ingrid Jennings and Prep teacher Kate Radford.

Ms Jennings organised the fibreglass cow, named ‘Moo Moo’ by the children, and Ms Radford developed the learning module, which included the farm tour, a film, books and an art project in collaboration with another teacher.

The students also submitted a project about their learnings to Dairy Australia for assessment.

They scored highly, receiving 18 out of 20 points for decorating the cow and 17.5 out of 20 points for demonstrating their learning in a journal.

“Moo Moo’s design is creative, original and very age appropriate for a Prep class [showing] strong evidence of research and understanding the theme,” the report stated.

Among the activities, as well as visiting a dairy farm, the students tasted a range of dairy products and chose how they would decorate Moo Moo. They covered Moo Moo in bright colours and painted cows, ice-cream, cake, glasses of milk and other pictures across the body. There were many depictions of udders.

None of the children were familiar with dairy farmers before they began learning about dairy.

Interviewing the children for Dairy News Australia, they showed differences in what engaged with them. For some of the students, it was cats and calves, for others it was the smell, the tractor, or watching the cows being milked.

“We saw a cow get milked by machines, it was fun watching,” Jett said.

“I think the milking cows are like school. They are in pens like a classroom,” Iley said.

“We talked about the dead cows go to Maccas for meat for the burgers,” said Slater, who was still overawed by two calves that licked his hands.

“I like the little tiny cows [calves] and the cats,” Milly said. “And now we’re reading and looking at books about how the cows are milked, the milk goes in trucks to the shops, the people buy the milk, and bring it home.”

“Seeing Moo Moo now I think about cows being milked,” Ziya said.

The visit to the dairy farm was not without humour either. Apart from calves licking their

Moo Moo, with dairy farmer Ingrid Jennings and prep grade students of Paynesville Primary School, Ziya Kara, Iley Trease, Mayhem Ngawhika, Jhett Thompson, Ethan Matthews, Lynkon Quigley, Slater Relecker, Milly Cipak, Zealan Bradley and Jason Gutherie.

hands, the children saw a cow try to enter the school bus.

“But the door was too small, the cow could not go in,” Milly said.

The Picasso Cows program has been teaching primary school students about the Australian dairy industry for more than 10 years. The school receives a life-size fibreglass cow to decorate, while learning about dairy products, health and nutrition benefits of dairy food, farming practices and manufacturing processes.

Dairy Australia has designed a suite of supporting learning modules, with the themes of

Milly Cipak drawing her picture of a cow.

Farm to Plate and Health and Nutrition.

According to a Dairy Australia spokesperson, the program has reached more than 1000 schools.

Dairy Australia has developed a range of videos to support the children’s learning activities.

DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA APRIL 2020

GIPPSLAND REGION // 9

AFL goes Holstein IN AUSTRALIAN football circles the colours

black and white are synonymous with the Collingwood Football Club.

But during the Pies’ practice game at Morwell on March 8, it was their opposition’s socks that used the colour combination to support a cause.

St Kilda has teamed up with Dairy Australia this year and the men’s players were seen wearing socks with black and white markings, much like you would see on a herd of Holsteins on a dairy farm.

Saints ruckman Rowan Marshall, who spent time growing up on a dairy farm in south-west Victoria, said he was proud to support the industry.

“Dairy is a massive part of the community where I grew up in Portland, and it’s great that we are showing our support as a club,” Mr Marshall said.

“Dairy farmers are part of our rural communities and so important to the local economy in these country towns, just as local football clubs are.”

In partnership with St Kilda, Dairy Australia’s Socks Up for Dairy initiative is a proud display of support for dairy communities across the country.

“Our Socks Up for Dairy initiative celebrates the special role that sport and dairy play in our communities,” Dairy Australia’s communications strategy manager Glenys Zucco said.

“We hope to show our support of regional dairy towns, thank our farmers and bring Australians together to barrack for team dairy.”

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA APRIL 2020

10 // GIPPSLAND REGION

Churning change in processing dream

BY JEANETTE SEVERS

TWELVE MONTHS ago, the owners of

Steve Ronalds with the direct pour bottling plant he purchased from orange growers in Griffiths, NSW, and installed at the recently commissioned milk factory.

Gippsland Jersey were notified the milk factory they were using would no longer be able to process their milk.

“Having our own processing facility has always been part of the Gippsland Jersey dream,” co-owner Sallie Jones said.

Gippsland Jersey co-owners, Steve Ronalds and Sallie Jones, founded the then single origin milk brand out of the milk crisis in 2016.

The pillars of the business include returning a fair price to a dairy farmer for their herd’s

milk and shining a spotlight on mental health and wellbeing.

Mr Ronalds’ Jersey herd, located on his farm at Jindivick, provided the single origin milk for Gippsland Jersey. However, the business partners always had the vision of growing supply as demand for their full cream Jersey liquid milk product grew.

More recently they recruited the well-known Wallacedale Jerseys (founded 1947), of Poowong, to supply milk.

Early last year, the milk processor they were using gave four weeks notice.

“They were going to stop processing our milk,” Mrs Jones said.

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA APRIL 2020

GIPPSLAND REGION // 11 An interim solution gave them room to crowd-fund and achieve a longer-term solution, which opened in late January this year.

Mrs Jones’ late father, Mike Bowen, was a visionary who wanted to value add his herd’s milk.

He built a factory in the 1980s at Lakes Entrance, on his Jersey dairy farm, to process his herd’s milk and make ice-cream. The product was further value-added with the family selling ice-cream direct to customers from a retail shop in Lakes Entrance.

Sadly, a few years ago Mr Bowen was found on his farm after taking his own life.

The crowd funding effort by Gippsland Jersey 12 months ago was successful, but the work was long and laborious.

Mr Ronalds moved his family (wife, Bec, and children) to Lakes Entrance so he could work full-time on the factory rebuild and install the necessary equipment. It has taken most of 12 months. He left his herd at Jindivick in the capable hands of a sharefarmer.

“There’s lots of different pieces of equipment; a cream separator and an homogeniser from the 1970s, a butter churn from the 1950s and a brand new pasteuriser,” Mr Ronalds said, on a tour of the factory with Dairy News Australia.

“The direct pour bottle filler was bought from farmers in Griffith, NSW, who were using it for processing and bottling oranges into juice.

“I built the cleaning equipment from scratch.”

Two freezers and two coolrooms have been converted into one coolroom; the factory walls

and ceiling were repaired where necessary and repainted.

The butter churn, like other pieces of equipment, has a story — it was originally from the Korumburra butter factory, was bought and used by Naomi Ingleton of King Valley Butter, who sold it to Gippsland Jersey. It has enabled Gippsland Jersey to diversify into making its own branded butter.

“Fortunately, Naomi has shared her own butter recipes with us,” Mrs Jones said.

The refurbished factory employs a minimum of five workers each shift. The workforce is expected to expand as Gippsland Jersey diversifies its product range and begins recruiting more farmer suppliers to meet increased market demand. The owners are in the process of recruiting a third dairy farm to supply milk and have forecast a need for six farms supplying the brand.

“We’re currently set up for 2500 litres/hour and can increase to 4000 litres/hour easily, with a bit more milk storage,” Mr Ronalds said.

“We had the opportunity to buy the equipment and be mentored in creating butter, so we thought we’d value-add with cream, butter and ice-cream.

“Our milk is supplied by Jersey cows; it’s natural to want to make butter and ice-cream out of it.”

He said the biggest challenge of moving from a single origin to a multiple supplier model was relying on farmers to guarantee quality. Milk is picked up two to three times weekly from across Gippsland, to be delivered directly to the factory at Lakes Entrance.

Steve Ronalds spent nearly 12 months putting the milk processing plant and equipment together, which includes a new pasteuriser, a butter churn built in the 1950s and a cream separator and homogeniser manufactured in the 1970s.

Less worms, more milk.

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A business case for drenching dairy cows with Epricare® Pour-On

A

common challenge for most businesses is finding a balance between reducing inefficiencies and improving productivity. In doing so, successful businesses are persistent in their efforts to continually identify and drive improvements in the current system that reduce costs and increase revenue. This is no different in commercial dairy operations, where producers look to maximise sustainable production and minimise cost, constantly measuring and assessing profitability and return on investment (ROI). Although efficiency and productivity are both important to successful businesses, they commonly compete with each other, as efficiency looks to strip resources out of the system while productivity attempts to increase production.

In tough years, the high cost of inputs in relation to farm revenue sees many producers adopt a lean businesses model, as it is less risky to cut spending than it is to increase productivity. As a

result, many farmers focus investment on activities that are perceived to generate the highest ROI, including herd genetics, nutrition and technology while cutting other costs perceived as less important. However, how do you know the value of each input or activity if you don’t measure it?

One such input that is commonly overlooked is treating cows with an effective drench to control worm burdens throughout lactation.

There is a common misconception that worms don’t have a significant effect on mature cattle.

Although gastrointestinal worms rarely cause clinical signs of disease in dairy cattle, with most animals appearing healthy, it has been found that gastrointestinal worms will decrease feed intake and reduce the efficiency of feed utilisation.1 So, not only are the cattle infected with worms eating less, they are less efficient at using what they do eat. A study conducted in Australian dairy cattle showed that effective control of

gastrointestinal worms in early lactation can significantly increase milk volume and the quantity of fat and protein produced. The study, involving more than 2,500 dairy cattle run under commercial pasture-based production systems in Australia, showed that effective worm control in the first 100 days of lactation can increase milk production (47 L), increase milk protein (2.2 kg) and increase milk fat (1.8 kg).2 In milk yield alone, this is estimated to be an increase of 21c/head/day or around $15,750 per year, for a 250 cow dairy herd.*^ Outside of the scheduled dry period, every day that a cow is not producing saleable milk impacts on the profitability of the business. One variable that has a significant impact on the annual production of the herd is the average calving to conception interval. With a shorter calving to conception interval, the herd can start producing milk sooner, increasing the number of days

in production and therefore total herd output.

A recent study3 showed that post calving control of gastrointestinal worms with Epricare can reduce first-calving heifers’ average calving to conception interval by 12.9 days, when compared to untreated cattle. If achieved, this can increase saleable milk output by around 250 L#, at a value of $114 per first-calving heifer in the milking herd.* Although efficiency and productivity can compete within a business, it is possible to find the right balance through assessing the ROI of farm inputs and activities, and selecting the ones that bring the highest returns to your business. As you can’t accurately manage something that you can’t measure, talk to your local CRT store or call your Boehringer Ingelheim territory manager about assessing worm challenges in your herd throughout the year, and selecting the most effective drench program for your operation.

Animal Health Solutions exclusive to CRT

Your Eprinomectin pour-on for Beef and Dairy 4 Nil meat, nil milk WHP* and nil ESI 4 Safe and easy to use* 4 Weatherproof

Available from your local CRT store. *See product label for full claim details and directions for use. Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Australia Pty. Ltd. Level 1, 78 Waterloo Road, North Ryde NSW 2113 Australia. ABN 53 071 187 285. ®EPRICARE is a registered trademark of the Boehringer Ingelheim Group. GENS.15.06.0146

*Milk price of 44.2c per L ^300 days of lactation #Milk production of 20 L per day References: 1. Coop. R & Holmes. P., (1996) Nutrition and parasite interaction, International Journal for Parasitology, (26), Issues 8–9, pp 951-962, ISSN 0020-7519, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0020-7519(96)80070-1. 2. Little et al., (2000) Effect of Eprinomectin at Calving on Milk Production of Dairy Herds. Proceedings of 17th Annual Seminar of Society of Dairy Cattle Vets, NZVA. 3. McPherson et al., (1999) The Impact of Eprinomectin Treatment on Dairy Cattle Reproductive Performance. AAVP Proceedings, 44th Annual Meeting, New Orleans 1999; 44th Annual Meeting: 41 See product label for full claim details and directions for use. Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Australia Pty. Ltd., Level 1, 78 Waterloo Road, North Ryde, NSW 2113 Australia. ABN 53 071 187285. Epricare® is a registered trademarks of the Boehringer Ingelheim Group. All rights reserved. AUS-EPRI-191001